A Victory to Remember
by Taralani2362
Summary: Six left, just six, but with the possibility of two being able to leave, the audience cannot wait to see what happens, but it can only be two from the same district! so will it be 12? Or will Cato and Clove manage to achieve their dream and win and have a victory to remember. (Alternate ending to Trained to Win)
1. The Feast

**Heya! Okay first of all, happy april fools day!**

**Some of you will have known that I was putting this up today, others won't, but now it's here, the first chapter of 'A Victory to Remember'. Many people were upset when I went with the original story and killed off both Cato and Clove in _Trained to Win_, so I'm very sorry but that was my plan from the start, however, I've grown to love these characters so much and I didn't want to disappoint anyone, so as promised, this is the alternate ending :) Kind of a spoiler as you now kind of know that they're not going to die (again), but I hope you like it! **

**Some of you will recognise the beginning as it is simply the same from that of 'trained to win' to start, but before long it's ENTIRELY original. So without further ado, Chapter one :D!**

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Chapter 1-The Feast

Clove's POV

Cato and I sit silently, the cornucopia in front of us. We have around 15 minutes until we think the feast will begin, so for now, we wait. We agreed 100 metres ago we'd only talk in whispers or sign from then on, in case there was any tribute nearby. We don't want to start fighting them in the woods, far easier in the open.

14 minutes. Why does time move so slowly! I look to my left to see Cato scanning the area in front of us, his hand tapping his sword gently and I know he's looking for tributes, looking for Thresh though the field is so high that if he's there or anywhere near there, there's no hope of finding him.

My eyes scan the forests in front of me, looking for any sign of her, the 'girl on fire' the girl who has caused us so much crap. Every tree, every bush, every single piece of foliage that is in viewing distance I look at, filling each minute with an examining gaze as I try to find her. Yet to no avail. I think I see a boot, perched beneath the bush, yet then it rolls down a slight slope and I realise that it's just a darkened piece of wood. Figures.

2 minutes.

Cato looks to me and quickly motions me to him. With an eyebrow raised I step slightly closer, so there's merely an inch between us.

"Clove." He looks to me seriously, which only sparks further confusion within me. It's 2 minutes before the feast and he's choosing now to talk to me?

"Yeah…?"

He blinks once and takes a breath, before cupping my face in his and pressing his lips quickly to mine. There is so much passion within the kiss that it's like nothing I've ever felt from him before and all I want to do is be with him forever and always, and I know that's cliché but I just don't care. Is this truly what overwhelming love feels like? Whenever I heard princess stories as a child, of 'true, undying love' I always thought it stupid, what such thing could possibly exist? Yet it does… I sound like a foolish schoolgirl but who cares?!

The sound of a hovercraft meets my ears as a large shadow falls over the cornucopia, 4 bags, each marked with a number: 2, 5, 11, and 12, are placed on the table just in front of it.

Cato releases me and looks determinedly into my eyes and with the next three words all breath is taken from me. "I love you." I look to him, tears' gathering in my eyes as I finally feel like my life is complete, but his next shout catches me entirely off guard.

"There!" I blink away the tears, forcing myself to concentrate. You can be with Cato later Clove, focus.

Running to the cornucopia is the girl from 5; she grabs her bag and sprints off in a different direction. Cato and I simply watch her go, we don't need her. We need either 11, or 12.

And there she is… Katniss is running towards the cornucopia now, a quiver of arrows, Glimmer's quiver of arrows on her back and Glimmer's bow clasped within her hand, her eyes are fixed on the bags in front of her.

"Go Clove!" I smirk at Cato's comment and leap from the bushes concealing and set off at a sprint, straight towards Katniss. I've no idea what she needs, probably medicine, but I don't care, now, she dies.

She's got her bag I can't see her but I know she's coming my way and as soon as she appears my knife has left my hand, slicing across her forehead but not fatal. She's knocks an arrow and fires it but I quickly dodge it with ease, didn't she see me at the agility course? Idiot. I've breached the gap and launch myself on top of her, and with a simple bow and arrows there's nothing for her to do. I relish in the moment. She's mine… there's no-one to stop me, and I may as well enjoy this moment.

"How's lover boy?" I smirk as she simply keeps struggling beneath my grasp. The girl, who has caused us so much trouble, is now at my mercy. "Oh I see… you were gonna help him right? That's sweet" Of course… that wound must be deadly, so the bag must be medicine after all, it's small enough. Maybe I'll take it after, for when we face 11. "It's too bad you couldn't help your friend. That little girl, what was her name again? Rue? Yeah well, we killed her." The little 12 year old… she was just as weak as Katniss really, all she did was aim and release a couple of arrows, and how the hell did she get an 11? Oh well… I guess I'll never now.

I smirk as I press my knife slightly harder into her neck, loving the next words that come from me. "And now… we're gonna kill you." My knife nearly drawing blood, I smirk at her, the last thing she'll ever see.

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Cato's POV

Clove leaps forward, knife in hand, ready to throw it at 12. I watch as she runs, powered by adrenaline at the thought of finally getting back at that stupid 'girl on fire' it's just a shame we couldn't burn her… mark her death as irony forever, but, maybe when she's dead we will, who knows. She reaches the cornucopia and doubles around the back of it, the direction from which Katniss came. I see Katniss emerge from the same side and grab the small sack marked '12' before doubling around herself, intending to head back where she came from, and to my delight I watch as she staggers back slightly as a knife skims across her forehead. Nice one Clove. She knocks an arrow and releases it, yet the sound of a cannon doesn't meet my ears and I know that Clove's alright.

Then I see her. She's on top of her and I can't help but smile. I glance at the wheat field for a millisecond, surprised to have still seen no sign of Thresh, but maybe he didn't need anything too badly, what could he possibly need anyway? No-one bothers to go into the wheat field, he's got food, and he can get water if he needs to… hmm, oh well.

My eyes flicker back to Clove and I smile cruelly from the bush which is concealing me as she holds a knife to Katniss's throat and I know she's relishing every last minute. We planned whether or not we'd make their deaths quick, but with Katniss we agreed that her death needed to be prolonged, she needed to know how much shit she's caused, and how happy we are that it's at our hands that she's going to finally meet her end.

Then I see him, Thresh, he's running from the field, straight at Clove. "No!" All memories of her seem to flash before my eyes from when we met right up until this moment and I know I can't let him end that, end my happiness with her, not straight after I finally realised that I love her.

I leap out from the bushes, sword in hand, and sprint towards him. "THRESH!" He doesn't even look at me, but Clove does and even as I'm sprinting towards them, she immediately brings her knife across the neck of the girl still struggling beneath her.

BOOM

1 down.

She jumps off of her and sprints around one knife in each hand as Thresh grabs his pack and turns, but I skid in front of him.

I hold my sword and narrow my eyes at him. Clove stands slightly to the left of me, knives ready and Thresh glares at us and I know he wants nothing more than to kill us. If we fought him now, we'd win, I know we would.

He darts towards us and clove flings a knife just as he sidesteps in my direction. I swing at him, both hands on the hilt and he brings his sword up to meet it, resulting in an echoing clash. For a fraction of a second we glare at each other and then he puts his weight behind the sword, pushing me backwards. I push in his direction, determined to stay put, then Clove can take him out for sure. But to my shock, Thresh simply kicks off in the direction of the gain field, pushing his sword to make me stumble slightly and I have to catch myself before falling over at the sudden lack of resistance from him.

"Clove!"

"On it!" She takes her second knife and sprints after him, she's fast, but by the look of it, so is he. I regain my balance and head after her, leaving our pack behind us, everyone's been already so there's no threat of someone taking it, I doubt 5 would risk going back just for our stuff.

I slowly close the distance, but not by much, in a race Clove will always win.

She skids to a stop as Thresh glances around and within seconds her second knife races through the air, yet she lets out a shout of pure fury as he ducks just in time and within another five metres, he's in the field and vanishing amongst the tall plants.

"COWARD! GET BACK HERE AND FIGHT!" I slow to a jog beside Clove as she shouts furiously at the field. My sword hangs by my side, as I put my hand on her shoulder. "Calm down…"

She turns, almost shocked by the touch, no doubt having forgotten I was there, and looks to me before calming, and narrowing her eyes once more at the field yet no more shouts escape her lips. "Clove, he'll have to come out eventually, there's only 5 of us. Besides, you got Katniss, remember?"

"Yeah…. Yeah I got the stupid girl on fire."

"Exactly… come on, we'll go back to camp and check out our pack and then look for lover boy okay?"

"Alright, we left my knife jacket back at camp anyway." This was true, we'd hoped to finish everything there and then, thinking everyone would show up, though apparently not, and we saw no sign of lover boy, the only who hadn't showed up… oddly.

We make our way back to the cornucopia where Katniss's body still lies, blood spilling from her neck onto the grassy floor beneath her, her eyes staring blankly at the sky. I merely smirk at her. Well now I know how she got her damn 11… her bow… With a few quick, fluid motions, I pick up the bow and smash it on the side of the cornucopia as hard as I can until a crack forms and with my 5th smash, it splits into two pieces, now useless. Don't want to find out that 5 can use it as well.

I wonder what they needed… There's no way to find out what 5 needed, that's so sure though it doesn't matter to much I suppose, same with Thresh, but we've got ours, and we've got 12's. I go to Katniss's bag, still lying beside her, and pick it up, open it, and tip the contents out into my hand. "Medicine…?"

"What's that?" Clove walks over to me, a leaf in one hand, her three knives, the only three she brought for this attack, in the other, as she slowly wipes one clean, the one covered in 12's blood.

"Medicine, it was in 12's bag." I raise an eyebrow and look to Katniss, and Clove does the same.

"She doesn't look ill, well, other than the fact she's dead." I laugh lightly at her joke then cough myself back to normal as Clove looks to me again a small smile playing at her lip, before she sighs. "Must have been for lover boy, his legs probably still messed up and he might have gotten poisoned or something."

"Well then he'll probably die within the next day or two, so we'll go after 5 next and hopefully 12 will be dead soon after, saving us the trouble of looking for him, remember how good the git was at camouflage? Marvel pointed it out when he was at sword training with me."

"Shit yeah… well okay, he should die its fine. What about Thresh….?"

"If the gamemakers don't drive him out, we'll just have to go in after him."

"Wait what? Into the wheat field? But he's been in there the whole games save just now at the damn beginning, he'll be able to hear us and probably attack us before we can think twice."

Damn… she's got a point. My eyes drift over to 12 as I try to think what to do. "Well… We'll think about it, alright? Games won't end before tomorrow at any rate, so we'll have plenty of time to think it over, like before falling asleep or something."

"Alright…" She mutters this in agreement, though I know she's unconvinced. I put my hand under her chin and tilt her face up to look her in the eyes. "We'll sort it."

She sighs, but smiles at me, before I place my lips against hers and kiss her gently. After what feels like hours, we break apart and I hand 12's bag, the medicine inside it once more, to Clove, before grabbing our own, as we head back to our camp from the knight before where Clove's jacket still lies, her remaining knives still inside it, hopefully.

Once we make it to the trees, the sound of a hovercraft meets our ears, and I turn to look to the cornucopia again as a metal claw descends, and the body of Katniss slowly ascends into the sky.

"Umm… Cato?" I blink and turn to face her as the hovercraft flies over us, back to the capitol.

"Yeah Clove?" Her left hand rubs her right slightly and it confuses me, until I remember that this is what she does when she's nervous, ever since I've known her. She takes a breath and looks up at me.

"I love you too." My lips spread into a childish grin and I walk towards her, dropping my sword, before wrapping my arms around her and putting my lips to hers once more, fireworks exploding within me as they touch and I know I never want to let go. I thought it was only your first kiss that made you feel like this, but no, I know that with Clove, I'll never stop feeling like this, and before long, I'll never have to stop, we'll win, we'll beat the others, and we'll get out of here, the first ever pair, and no-one will stop us.

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**Okay so I hoped you liked that and I'll be putting up all future chapters every Saturday, though I can't give any times, could be 00.01, could be 4.30pm, could even be 5 minutes before Sunday, but unless something massive happens, I will be updating on Saturdays!**

**REVIEW!**

**-Tara**

**PS: Happy easter for yesturday :D!**


	2. The Girl From 5

**Okay here's chapter 2 guys! Hope you like it!**

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Chapter 2 – The Girl from 5

Cato's POV

We spent the entire night sleeping without bothering to take watch, with 12 on his death bed, and 11 highly unlikely to ever leave that grain field unless forced, and 5 incredibly weak, or an incredibly good actress, we had no reason to worry about being killed in the night, and with so few of us left we doubted such a low move, careers may do that, but the districts left seem to have 'morals'… even if it is a fight to the death.

As the suns glow slowly warms my back I look across the burnt remains of the fire, as Clove lies sleeping on the other side, her knives clutched tightly in her hands, even at home I'm sure she does that, I think she snuck some out of the training centre a few years ago… when we were 10 maybe? It's been so long I can hardly remember.

It's… strange. A few weeks ago I pictured coming into this arena along with some girl who I'd have likely killed, most likely 17 or 18, yet my best friend was picked instead. Hell. That's all I could truly think about. A brilliant team we are, I know that, we've always been a brilliant team, both in arguments with the idiots at the training centre, and the selected few kids who go to the usual school having either never tried, or failed, to come to the training centre, whereas we do both training and school.

"Is it morning…?" I blink myself away from my thoughts as Clove slowly stirs.

"Yeah its morning."

"Dammit…" I smirk at her comment as she sighs, even though it's the hunger games she still wants to sleep, typical.

She sits up stretching, one knife still clutched in her left hand, is she ever over a metre away from a knife or two?

"What's the plan C?"

"Right. There are 3 tributes still out there."

"5, 12, 11. Got it."

"Yep. Okay so here's the plan. We need to track down 5 and kill her. We know she ran off in the opposite direction of us when she left the cornucopia so if we head back to the cornucopia, and keep going, we'll be in roughly the right area then we need to look for life and hope that we find something to point us towards her. She'll have to sleep at some point, I'm guessing when it's dark, like usual, unless she's become nocturnal, so we can stay up, and we'll find her."

"And if we don't?" She raises an eyebrow at me and after a moment I open my mouth, a smart witty comment or something worth time yet in all honesty I can't.

"Yeah I don't have a plan for that."

"Ah. The usual, one plan or we're screwed tactic right Cato?" She leans back smirking at me as I narrow my eyes at her, even if I know that she's joking.

"Don't make me steal your knives."

Her face drops and she looks to me suspiciously, unsure whether or not to believe me. "You wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't I?"

"Oh shut up."

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Clove's POV

_Crack._ I pause instantly as Cato steps on a branch, cracking it in half. _30 second rule Cato…_

In the training centre, as a childish activity, we had to play 40-40 in. The aim of the game was to get to 'home' which could be any object, such as a bench or if outside, a tree, anything. The person who was 'it' would have to guard 'home'. They'd count to 40 whilst everyone else would run away, positioning themselves in a spot a while away, not too far, but not so close. The person who was it would have to try and catch everyone else, by tapping them or tackling them, depending on who it was.

Often people made slight noises, but as it was still a training exercise, we were taught the 30 second rule. If you make an audible sound, such as a bump or crack, you wait 30 seconds before proceeding in case they did actually hear you as we were told that, psychologically, people wait up to 30 seconds on average before assuming they'd heard wrong, or it was nothing. The more suspicious up to a minute.

28… 29… 30.

Cato slowly starts to move forward again turning his sword readily in his hand as I follow _exactly_ in his footsteps, my eyes constantly searching for some form of life, footprint, packaging from the food, hair, clothing, anything.

"Cato!" I hiss towards him as he looks around quickly. My hand is outstretched and I watch as his eyes trace along my arm, my hand, my pointed finger, briefly wavering around the area to which I'm pointing before fixing on it, a tiny piece of cloth, most likely from the jackets we carry.

His mouth spreads into a small smile as he looks at me and I smirk back at him and walk forward, tearing it off the tree. It's not warm though I'm not surprised; the outside of a jacket rarely contains much body heat, and any that it does is usually lost within a few moments.

"Not warm… definitely the jacket, how close do you think she is?"

"No idea." I look at it more closely, we're not hunters, we notice simple things, or rather most of us do. We're taught to kill at the training centre, we're not taught to hunt or scavenge or anything the trainers deem 'not as important'. Yet thankfully, this year's tributes have common sense.

"The way it was torn suggests she was travelling the way we're going. No blood, she's not injured, I doubt if she's been hurt the entire time."

"Alright. We keep going." I nod at Cato's response and pocket the piece of fabric, before clutching my knife tightly again and heading along the same track which we were travelling in the hope of another sign or rather, her.

Neither of us bothered to pay attention to either her or her district partner in the beginning, in fact I can barely remember 5, 6 or 7, all of their faces a blur, whether or not they died in the bloodbath or by us or 11, I don't know.

All I remember is what I saw yesterday, skinny, and… red-headed? Yes… not too tall, not too short and too far away for me to notice any facial features if I saw her, not that it matters, if all goes well, by the end of the day, she'll be dead.

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Foxface's POV

Sitting in the bush, my knees tucked to my chest with my left arm wrapped around them, my knee rested on top. A small dagger hilt sits beside me, the blade still inside the small black bag with a clear '5' upon it.

I know all the plants in this arena I think… and I don't need a fire. But I know if I ever want to get home I'll have to kill someone at some point, sometime, somewhere, I've made it this far. I never thought I would, but I have, yet my mentor obviously wants to remind me about this. He was always harsh trying to remind me at some point I will have to kill someone, but with everyone else incredibly strong, and then me, what can I do? They got Katniss, and she got an 11 in training! I don't even know what she did, but she's dead, was it the two careers, Thresh? I don't know. But I have a horrid feeling I'll be next.

I wish I was like Johanna Mason from 7, who always pretended to be weak yet was secretly amazing with an axe, but I don't have that. I can hide, I've always been good at hiding, but unlike her, I can't do anything with a weapon, at all. We were only ever told about power stations, and taught simple things, then how to do the factories, but weapons? No. We're not trained like the people from 1 and 2 are, if that's true… and I'm scared. All I know is that I'm scared, a small part of me hopes I can win, maybe I can if I take the dagger and find them in the night, maybe I can, but I don't know. I can hope, like mother always told me too.

_Crack_. What was that? A branch? I pause my eyes looking out of the brush. It was feint, so feint, but I've always been wary, always. 3 minutes later, I see them sneaking into my line of view, the two careers, the final careers.

_Don't find me… keep walking, don't find me._ I don't move, stay completely still, if I don't move I know I'll be fine, I'll stay still, I'll be fine. I know they could be the death of me.

My heart rings in my head as I hold my breath, can they hear it? _Thump, thump_, _thump, thump._ I beg it to stop but I know it won't. It won't stop, not until I'm safe.

They're still walking, they're slow, very slow, their eyes going everywhere, the boy, 18 I think, spinning his sword slowly and continually in his right hand. How much blood has it spilled already?

They're nearly out of my line of view, I'm going to be okay, I know I will, its fine. My heart finally starts to slow down.

That is until, her eyes meet mine.

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**Okay so that's the end of chapter 2, I hope you like it! Keep on reviewing! If you have any questions, tell me in a review and I'll answer them in the authors note at the beginning of the next chapter.**


	3. Just 2 more to go

**Hey guys! So here's the next chapter, hope you like it, please please please review and If you have any questions leave them in the review about the story, me as a writer or anything, (I once saw one person ask an author if they liked pie :P) then just ask me in a review and I will post your questions along with my answer in the next chapter!**

**Hope you like it!**

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Chapter 3 – Just 2 more to go

Clove's POV

_BOOM_

"2 to go." Cato smirks at me, wiping his sword clean of 5's blood in the nearby bush.

It wasn't much of a struggle, she was good at hiding and keeping quiet, I'll give her that, and yes, we nearly walked straight past her, but what people don't realise is you shouldn't watch your target whilst they're trying their hardest to look for you. Our eyes reflect light, and what with different colours and blinking, they don't blend in with the rest of the body, they're what gets you caught, as dear 5 just experienced.

As soon as our eyes met, she knew she was done for; she waited 3 seconds, 3, simple, seconds. My knife was in my hand as my lips curved into a small, victorious smirk. She knew what it meant, she was going to die, and she wasn't going home.

She stood and bolted, Cato turned at the sound and my knife was gone from my hand in an instant. It hit the back of her knee and with a shout of pain she crumpled, her leg collapsing inwards and tripping her, causing her to roll around 3 times before skidding to a stop by the base of a nearby tree.

Tears clouded her eyes but Cato and I couldn't have cared less. She was just another kill away from going home, back to district two, and for the first time ever, two tributes together, a joint victory.

She was already down, she tried to crawl away but Cato was above her by then, and with one swipe of his sword, she was dead, her blood spilling over the dirt floor.

"Nice kill."

"Well I wouldn't have caught up to her without your knife."

"Are we seriously complimenting each other…?"

"Yep."

"Without insults?" I raise an eyebrow at him curiously, as I walk towards the corpse to pull out my knife.

He looks at me for a minute, pausing, and I know he's thinking it over too, we're never outwardly horrible to each other, but outwardly nice is another matter, we're careers Goddamit.

"Yeah…. You could have hit her other leg, this looks like her weaker one." He smiles at me playfully as I start laughing, my hand gripping the hilt of my knife and tearing it from her leg. That sounds more like the Cato I know.

Coughing myself back to sanity, I manage to say, "well you say that, but did you see your cut? You sliced down here." My finger trails along the girls back, usually it wouldn't be deadly but she was that skinny, and the cut was that deep, it most likely severed her spine and internal organs, at a guess. "Should've gone for the head really."

"And what, decapitated her?"

"Would have been a cleaner kill." I say in a sing-song voice shrugging at him and by the look on his face as he folds his arms I know he's annoyed. You don't doubt Cato's killing methods. Well, unless you're me.

"You could have done better?"

"Did you see my knife? If I was going to finish her I'd have gone for the head, I just thought that, as you couldn't catch Thresh, you'd want her."

"Oh shut up." He rolls his eyes and turns to leave as I start laughing again.

We don't head straight back to camp, we know where Thresh is but we've no idea about 12. Both of us thought he'd be dead by now, his legs pretty beat up if what Cato told me is true after the tracker jacker incident, unless Katniss healed it, with an 11 she probably had a lot of sponsors, but you never know.

Cato said he knew the medicine, stuff from the capitol and that it's not for his leg, with his leg he'd be alright, with this, not so alright but as we haven't heard any cannons, the bastards still alive, for now.

* * *

Cato's POV

"Cato we've been looking for hours he's not here."

_Shut up shut up!_ We have been looking for hours, it's true, but we can't find the git anywhere. I know he's good at camouflage, heck he told us, and we saw him at training before all this even began, anyone who looked like they weren't a bloodbath, we watched even if it was just for 5 minutes of every day. Thresh, both from 12, 4, etc. Even 5 we checked once or twice, only because she went to the same station nearly every time though, _"if she knows what to eat she'll survive, assuming you don't kill her."_ Even now Enobaria's words echo in my head. Well we've killed her now.

"Cato…"

"Shush." She lets out an exasperated sigh but I'm determined to find him, even if he is half dead.

Ever since killing Foxface we've searched cave after cave, tree after tree, even some animal holes that looked big enough for him to crawl in, but with no sign of life anywhere. It's so infuriating! Two people left to kill before I can go home with the girl I love, yes that's soppy but it's true. Once they're dead I can finally go home, and with the money the victors get, my brother and sister will never have to go into the games. Maybe I could even live with Clove?

All the victor's houses filled up by the 2nd quarter quell, maybe even earlier I don't know, and there's so many of us in district 2 now apartment blocks were built around 15 floors high each. They tried building a few more victors houses but with the more people winning, they gave up and started to make just really large victors apartments.

I suppose it's nice that way, the victors still get a house for winning and they're purposefully close to the training block, and a while away from here everyone else lives. Clove and I could probably ask for 1, if we did live together, or have both and one of our families could move into the other one, probably mine what with Clove wanting nothing to do with her mother, the only sister she talks to already having a house, and a husband, and her other sister, Bex, I can't remember her full name, living with her dad who she's not seen since whenever.

I always tried asking her about her family, but she never usually talks about them. I've met them though, or her mother and eldest sister at least. Her parents split up when she was 10 and I only saw Bex once, she used to go to training with Clove, I think maybe a year younger than me, with straight black hair and rather pale  
skin, and was slightly smaller, but unlike Jenny, Bex was perhaps just as deadly with knives as Clove was.

I know they used to be close, all 3 of them, until her dad took Bex away and then Jenny moved out. They don't talk anymore… Clove hates talking about it, so I don't push it, just like how she doesn't push me about Tyson, or my other siblings. It's just one of those things.

"Cato, come on we'll find him tomorrow." I sigh and turn to face her, lowering my readied sword.

"Alright. I'm starving anyway."

"We've got some back at camp. I doubt Thresh will have gone out to get it." This is true at least, if I'm sure of one thing, it's that Thresh won't leave that grain field, not with both of us after him, by the end of this, either we'll be forced together, or we'll be forced to go in after him and hope we make it out alive.

Annoyedly, I turn back with her, and we head back in the rough direction of our camp, we made one kill today, I can live without having another.

"Just think Cato, 2 more and we can go home, oh _shit_"

"What?" I'm about to ready my spear but I know from her tone that that isn't what's bothering her. "Clo, what's wrong?"

"Interviews…"

"What?"

"When we get back… Flickerman interviews us… I have to see that prep team _again_." I pause for a minute, before bursting out laughing, not even caring if Thresh would hear me.

"It's not funny! They'll put stupid make-up on me again which just feels _weird_ and put me in a dress which is useless for running and no doubt it'll be one that stops me being able to throw knives as easily."

"Why would you even be throwing a knife in an interview?" I clutch my side still laughing happily as Clove turns and hits me to try and make me shut up and stop laughing at her.

With a huff she turns annoyedly, muttering as she starts to walk again, "if I'm going back with you-…"

"_Charming_."

"Pfft."

I cough myself back to sanity and jog to catch up to her again, making sure I don't laugh again or else I'll only get slapped. "It won't be _too_ bad."

"All they do to you is put you in a damn suit!"

"Well- yeah I guess but-"

"But nothing." I try not to smile but I can't help as it spreads across my face. "Oh stop it!"

"I can't help it Clove, dammit we're in the hunger games, where you know, the aim is to _kill_ each other, so that we become a victor, pride to our district and everything. And all you say, when we're going to be the first _pair_ of victors ever in the history of Panem, is that you'll have to see your prep team again! With Thresh in the grain fields, and 12 having _maybe_ recovered, though it's doubtful, and the gamemakers able to kill us in an instant, _that_ is that you worry about?" I break down in tears of laughter again. She's always hated make-up, and making herself look pretty, especially as it sometimes means keeping her hair down, which she despises now, but I never expected her to come out with such a thing in the middle of the hunger games.

"It's not funny!" She looks to me annoyedly like a small child about to throw a tantrum, her hands clenched into fists and her eyes narrowed as if trying to kill me with a glare.

"It kind of is."

"Is not."

"Is too!"

"Is not."

"Is too."

"We're seriously doing this?"

"Yeah, yeah we are, but it's not funny and that's final."

"Okay how about this, race you back to camp, if I win, it's funny, if you win it's- HEY!" Clove sprints off in the direction of camp as I shout after her angrily "I DIDN'T SAY GO YET!"

She darts around the trees and calls over her shoulder at me. "GO!"

"DAMMIT CLOVE!" As annoyed as I am, I can't stop laughing and so, sword in hand, I set off at a sprint after her. We used to race all the time as kids, and the other guys at the academy would always laugh at me for being beaten by a girl but in your last year of reaping, the academy always trains you harder, and I had an extra 3 sessions a week, as well as normal academy training, and as speed wasn't my strong suit, they kept continually pushing me to make me better at it.

Well, I'm better now Clove and I'm not going to be beaten by a girl again, even if you did get a head start.

"Catch me if you can Cato!"

I smirk as she continues to run ahead of me before shouting back at her, "You better keep running Clo because when I catch you I'm going to beat you stupid for cheating!" Her laugher rings through the air at me, and even though we're in the hunger games, even though we could be killed by Thresh any minute, with killing machines in both of our possessions, and even though the gamemakers could cause a tree to fall on us, or some creature to attack us at any moment, I don't think I've ever felt happier.

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**Hope you liked it guys, 3 more chapters of the games to go, if you have any suggestions, or questions as I've already said (I really need to stop repeating myself) leave it in a- yes you know what's coming- CHEESECAKE wait what...? review :P**

**Thanks all!**

**-Tara**


	4. Lover Boy

**Hey guys! Sorry this is a late update, I'd written bits of it through the week but I've been really ill lately and I thought I'd be okay but I just didn't get better L I'm a lot better now though, just a slight headache but I'll be fine son. Thank you so much for reviewing you've no idea how happy it makes me, especially when you say (or I know) that you've read ****_Trained to Win as_**** well! **

**Here is my next chapter, Hope you like it, if you have any ideas or anything you think you might want to see in the story then please do tell me as I write this during the week so any reviews or comments could contribute and it might be nice for you to see your ideas in a story ^_^ (especially on how you think then might get out ;]) same with any questions, just leave 'em in the reviews :D**

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Chapter 4 – Lover Boy

Clove's POV

I hold my hand up to Cato, pulling him to a stop. I turn, facing him, and place my finger to my mouth, before pointing ahead to a cave, leaves covering its entrance so well, too well. I raise my eyebrow at it in confusion and slowly walk towards it, slightly to the side so that if there was anyone in there, they wouldn't see me.

Cato follows my movements carefully and nods to me, and in a sharp swiping movement, I slash half of the branches, letting them collapse to the floor.

"Empty." I raise my eyebrow further in confusion as I lower myself from my defensive stance and step carefully into the cave. It's not large, but large enough for someone to make camp here easily. Blood steins the cave floor, even though it is slowly fading. "He was here."

Cato kneels down slowly, scrutinizing the ground carefully with his sparkling blue eyes, and I can almost see the cogs spinning in his head and I know he's trying to work out how old the blood is. It's been 2 days since we killed Foxface, and the night before 12's face appeared in the sky.

"He'd have had plenty of time to move."

"But could he move?"

Cato looks to me darkly "He could have tried…"

"How far? 2 days, injured, needing medicine, what if his mentor sent him some…?"

"Possibly… they were popular; they probably had enough money, though with the shape he's in now and the fact that his girlfriend's dead, I doubt he'll have gotten anymore sponsors."

"Agreed."

We spread out across the cave checking for anything he might have left behind, yet we find nothing but a couple of packets of dried fruits and nuts that he left behind.

"Cato."

"Hmm?" He looks around at me curiously, having been checking one of the empty packets.

"The blood." I point towards the stain and then follow it with my finger, its dragged out, like the steins on the crash mats in the wrestling station at the training centre, when someone's starting bleeding and is dragged along it, stretching out the blood as they go.

It becomes faint but if it had continued, it would have left to the left side of the exit, the right if you're outside looking at it. "Let's go catch district 12…" I smirk at him and head out and we instantly go into formation, Cato going slightly right, while I travel fifty metres left, and then we both start to head in the same direction. In the daylight, we can still spot each other, and hear each other without many problems.

As we go the distance between us slowly grows yet we keep each other in our sights, with an injured leg, even if he was sent something to help it, the boy couldn't have gotten too far, not without having to take an excessive amount of breaks as well as rest for both nights that have passed in the meantime. Strong he may be, what we saw in the training centre proved that much, but he's still nothing on us, even if he got lucky, and whatever luck he has left will have run out by the end of the night.

* * *

"Clove!" My knife flies through the air on Cato's command and 12 dives aside. He draws his sword and stumbles back to his feet, the dive having caused him to collapse, my knife embedding itself in the trunk of the tree that he had his back too.

It took us 2 hours to find him; with lots of doubling back on ourselves, sure that we'd gone too far left or right, and not on course, until Cato saw him. He was one hundred metres to the right of me, and ahead of me he saw lover boy, at an angle I couldn't. I saw the recognition on his face before he shouted my name, and even as his lips moved I was already darting around to get a better view, my hand sinking into my jacket and wrenching out two knives at the ready.

Cato sprints towards us as I send my second knife towards 12's bad leg. He swings it out the way and ducks behind a tree panting. His legs been bandaged up, or as good as he could have done, but his drunk of a mentor obviously didn't send him much as they were already matted and covered in grass stains, meaning he probably slept in it and wasn't able to change them.

The knife flies through the air, but I don't watch it, I go to sprint towards the tree and to my shock 12 comes out to meet me, swinging his sword towards my face yet I don't feel its slice, just a hard thwack against my right side and before I know it I'm flying through the air and then darkness.

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Cato's POV

Blood splashes the floor as 12's sword cuts through my left arm, right where Clove's neck would've been. She lies unconscious, collapsed against the tree to the left of me, but that doesn't matter, she's not dead and I can't concentrate on her right now.

12 brings his sword back, gripping it in both hands and goes for a second attack but as he swings it down I bring mine up to meet him. I know I won't lose, but even if there is the slightest possibility I need to eliminate it. He's strong, very strong, and his swing was enough to force my blade to vibrate but I keep a hold of it, my grip tightening. If I lose, and he kills me, then he'll be able to kill Clove without any difficulty, and then it'll just be the face-off between 11 and 12, a single victor, and when such an opportunity as a double victory has appeared, I can't let them go through with it, and more so, I _won't_.

I whip my blade away from his and around twisting my wrist in an attempt to send the sharp end into his gut, but he swings his down and knocks it aside and I have to jump back to avoid it being knocked into the tree, fearing that it may become stuck.

He's not trained, nowhere near as trained as we are, and the only opportunity he's had to wield a sword is in the Capitol. _Come on Cato, you've been trained since you were a boy he is nothing compared to you. Nothing_.

Nothing. I smirk at him and he glowers back at me. His face is red and moist, no doubt the illness he had encountered is still within him, and yet for him to be able to fight like this his mentor must have got medicine to him somehow.

He tries to stand firm on his bandaged leg, faking that its fine but I see through that in an instant, in 2 you learn to hide your injuries with true talent, not only as preparation for the arena, but to make sure that we don't lose face in front of those who beat us. If you lose, not only do you have the injuries from the person who beat you, but your punished too, often by your personal trainer, if you have one, some kids just get kicked out at 12, having no potential whatsoever and the victors and trainers refuse to keep them, 'resource-drainers' they call them.

Yet if you make it, which in all honesty isn't that hard if you're not a complete idiot, they line you up, and some of the victors come by, it's different for each year of trainee's (as they call us) and each victor usually picks about 2 or 3 out of the usual 20 of us, and then they often fill up some of your trainer sessions, more so as you get older, and when you're 18, an extra 3 times of week like I had. Clove had Enobaria, which suited her just fine, being so much like her in many ways, and I got Brutus.

Peeta glowers at me determinedly, and I can't help but give him credit for managing to stay so brave wen facing his death. I twitch my blade in a short, quick movement, and he slashes his as if to block and I laugh cruelly at him. He snarls in response and steps towards me, swinging his blade quickly towards my chest, and I step forward, bringing mine up to meet it. With a loud Clang, the two blades collide, both of us pushing against the blades to try and knock the other off balance.

"Not bad 12" I spit, my muscles straining to keep up the force behind my blade. "I'd have though with the gift I gave you, you'd be long dead by now."

"Shut it _2_." I look to him squarely in the eyes, my lips twitching in a snarl at his annoyed emphasis on '2', the tone of his voice an insult to my district.

"You stand no chance 12, I've been waiting for the hunger games my whole life and you're not going to stop me."

"Well remember that when I kill you and then your district partner." He looks to me in malice, and I know that he takes no pleasure in killing and it's only his tone of voice that suggests otherwise in the hope of frightening me, but I don't care. He mentioned Clove, mentioned killing her.

"Don't you talk about her you weak stupid twat." I spit at him in my fury and he looks to me carefully, almost calculatingly behind his determined glare.

"She killed her didn't she?" He trembles slightly as I start to gain the upper hand in our battle of strength, yet still manages to spit out the words.

"You bet she did, she slit your precious girlfriend's throat without even effort. One knife across her head and then she was on her and then one slice and the rest of her blood was spilling across the floor."

He looks to me trying to conceal his horror, his eyes becoming slightly watery at the vivid description I've just given him, but his face hardens, and for a moment I'm confused, until he pushes himself off the tree, swinging his sword away quickly and I topple to the ground.

In instinct, I turn in the air, landing on my back and bring the flat of my blade up to catch his sword's point as it dives for my heart, my hand, halfway up my own blade, the only thing stopping it from slamming back into my own face.

He pushed down hard and then kicks off, trying as hard as he can to flee. Flee?! Like he'll get off that easy. I roll quickly onto my stomach and then my eyes widen in fear. He's not trying to flee; he's running to a tree a few meters away, the tree that Clove smashed into when I knocked her out of harm's way and where she lies defenceless, unconscious, and unable to stop him from killing her.

"NO!"

We killed his love but he's not taking mine. Adrenaline and fury pumping through me I scramble to my feet and sprint towards him, catching him in seconds and tackling him to the ground, so enraged that my sword lies by the spot I've only just vacated.

My fist plummets towards his jaw as he turns to face me and a loud _crack_ tells me it's broken. He moans in pain and shoots his fist towards his gut, and even though the force behind it is incredible I don't care, I ignore the pain like it was nothing, not even letting out a grunt as I raise my fist again to go for his nose.

Another crack and blood splatters across his face and continues to pour from his now broken nose, dripping into his mouth so that he has to splutter and spit it out again as he continues to try and force me off of him.

He brings his knee up hard and I moan in pain as it makes contact between my legs and I topple off of him. With a swiping movement he grasps his blade and brings it around but then collapses backwards as my fist collides with his jaw, sending him back to the floor. He yelps in pain, as I reach across and yank his blade from his grip. For a few minutes we struggle over it but then I overcome him and pull it from his grasp, twisting it and with a final movement, I sink into his chest.

He lets out a final moan of pain but with the amount of blood now in his mouth it's practically a gurgle, it's surprising that he hasn't choked on his own blood.

_BOOM_

He falls back to the ground, limp, blood still dripping from his mouth and nose. I stand his sword still in my hand. I stumble back over to where I lay earlier, bruised and the pain finally acknowledging itself around my body, picking up my sword, sheathing it before stumbling over to Clove.

I can't help but smile slightly at her unconscious form, even though a tiny trickle of blood is falling down her face, she still looks so peaceful, something I hardly ever see considering that she always sleeps on edge with knives in hand, yet here she sits with the knives having fallen from her hand, the only threatening thing about her being the jacket that covers her, still full of knives.

I grunt in pain as I collapse beside her unconscious form, rubbing my face gently and wincing as the pain hits me. A small sigh escapes me as I put an arm around Clove, not wanting to move, the capitol can come get 12 where he sits before we move for all I care, not like I'd stop them.

"1 more down Clove, and just 1 to go." I smile softly at her as I brush a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. "1 more, and we can go home, and we will go home, I promise."

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**Thanks for reading, remind me you're all out their by reviewing :3? Sorry it was late guys! I'll post on time from now on, promise! :)**

**-Tara**


	5. Almost There

**Okay here's chapter 5 guys! Thanks to the amount of followers I got last week, and I was really surprised by the sudden surge in views, usually I only get 30 people checking it the day after I update my chapter, but last time I had 81, so thank you very much for reading!**

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Chapter 5 – Almost there

Clove's POV

My eyes flutter open slowly as my mind tries to unravel itself from the vines of confusion. _WH…what happened?_ I groan in slight pain, my head stinging as I lift it upwards.

Everything comes back to me in a flash, the cave, the trail of blood, stalking in the woods, and district 12. District 12! I dart upwards only to find someone's arms around me and no knives beside me. I let out a shout of shock and the arms around me tighten. I'm at too odd an angle to turn to see who it is but all I know is that I was hit aside and hit unconscious, having been fighting one of the only 2 people left until I could go home with Cato.

"Let me go! Let me go!" I struggle feverishly but the grip tightens and brings me towards him, and I'm taken aback by the lack of violence in the move.

"Clove…" That small whisper of my name stops my actions immediately, and I look up now to see Cato's head beside me. My muscles relax slowly but then I'm on edge again as I look around and open my mouth to ask where he is.

"He's dead. You didn't hear the cannon because you were unconscious." I close my mouth and blink, and now allow myself to relax fully, my head resting on his strong arms. He relaxes with me and for a time we lean together against the hard bark of the tree, my head still throbbing painfully.

"I'm sorry."

"What for…?"

"Knocking you out..." Knocking me out…? _He_ knocked me out?! He looks away sheepishly, though his arms don't retract from around me.

"I… well, you weren't able to dodge it and I just meant to… to you know… move you but…" he trails off and I raise an eyebrow at him curiously. Is Cato being… shy? Or just ashamed?

"It… didn't work…"

"No, really?" I look to him in fake shock, my voice full of sarcasm at his words. "Work that out on your own Cato?"

"I'm just… I'm sorry." He pulls his arms off of me and rests them in his lap looking crestfallen.

"Cato." He doesn't look at me. "Cato… you killed him right?"

"Well… yeah."

"So it's fine! One more down right? I mean yeah my head kills and if this was back in district two I'd have kneed you in the balls by now, but still!" I look to him, hoping that my 'pep talk' or rather whatever I could come up with, for if him taking someone's life and me encouraging it is a pep talk… well, I'm not very good at pep talks, I'll leave it at that.

He sighs and looks up, smiling slightly at me, and I pull one of his large arms around me again. "Sorry your head hurts." He puts a hand gently on where my head made impact with the tree and I flinch slightly, already able to feel the bump that's formed there.

"It's fine… don't worry about it." Now it's my turn to look slightly annoyed, we're not meant to show pain, Enobaria will kill me.

"Though…" I look up curiously as his usual tone creeps its way back into his voice. "I'm surprised that such a big head didn't dent the tree. What's it made of, cement?"

"You know I think I preferred the shy and weak Cato." I go to push myself from his grip but he holds me tighter, refusing to let me leave.

"Oh I'm weak am I?" he looks directly down into my eyes and raised an eyebrow at me, his large muscled arms keeping my arms firmly pinned to my side.

"You heard me." I smirk up at him, my tone being as teasingly taunt-like as ever.

"Try to escape." _Fuck_. He knows I won't be able to, and I can tell as he starts to smirk and his grip on me tightens that he knows it too. I'm quicker than him, quicker by miles, I beat him when we raced back to camp the other day, even if he had gotten slightly faster. _Slightly_. But in strength, he's always won.

When I was 14 Enobaria decided she wanted me to train my strength. _"Speed is useful but it won't always help you escape death. You must combine it with strength."_ For the entire day she faced me against different boys and girls, both younger than older than me (even if only by a year or so) and had me fight them. No weapons, only boxing, and we weren't even given gloves.

She penalised me and shouted at me whenever I ducked a punch and span around, telling me to stop focusing on mere speed alone. She told me I either had to learn to block, or take a hit.

By the time Cato stepped into the ring I was furious.

_"Listen Clove, what was the point of this exercise? Hmm? Tell me that!"_

_"Focus on my strength…"_

_"And what are you doing exactly?" She folds her arms and glares at me expectantly._

_"Relying on my speed…" It takes almost all of my determination to keep looking her in the eyes without snarling at her in fury. My fists clenched furiously by my side, even if the knuckles aren't bleeding slightly._

_Slowly forming bruises cover me from head to foot from when I've tried to block and missed, or else simply taken a hit, Enobaria telling me I'm not allowed to move out of the way. My muscles ache with pain as the door to the room opens and both of us look around._

_Brutus comes in with a tall boy with ash blonde hair and startling, if rather cold, eyes at his side. I glower at him as he smirks at me. We were best friends even then but he looks so smugly at me when he sees how much I've been hit me can't help but glower in annoyance, even if I do hold my tongue._

_"Enobaria."_

_"Brutus. I'm glad that you were able to spare the time to bring Cato, teach this girl some strength." Wait… _what?!

_"I'm fighting Cato?!"_

_Cato sniggers at me. "N'aww Clo's scared." I snarl at him before spinning back to the two mentors._

_"But he's two years older than me and like twice my size?!" Brutus smirks slightly at my obviously outraged response, yet Enobaria just scowls at me furiously._

_"Yes you're fighting Cato; why else would he be here?"_

_"Bu-"_

_"No buts. Get in there, both of you." She pushes me gruffly into the ring and I almost trip, yet stabilise myself before glowing at Cato, the two mentors going to opposite sides of the ring to watch each of their 'mentee's' as it were, from both angles._

_"You know… I never lose." Cato lowers into a slightly defensive position and I scowl at him furiously. This is so unfair, if he beats me he'll hold it over me for weeks, and he's one of the strongest people in this place, much stronger than all the kids I've fought so far with ease. Plus, he's 2 years older than me, the oldest I've fought so far has been 15 year olds, and even they are barely that, there birthdays having been like 3 months ago at the latest._

_He's stronger, and he's uninjured, save for the small cut on his knee he must have gotten training swords with Brutus earlier today. I hate when we have 1 to 1 mentor days, Enobaria is such a-_

_Cato swings at me and I bring my arm up to block it but I'm knocked back easily. Cato laughs slightly, though I know he doesn't mean it really, though I know he refuses to lose to a girl._

_I swing around and kick at his legs but he jumps and I just swing right through, yet manage to use the momentum to get back up, but quickly duck when he sends his next fist at me in an uppercut movement._

_I end up collapsing backwards, yet manage to push myself into the 'bridge' position. When Enobaria's familiar shouts meet my ears. "Clove!" of course… I dodged._

_I grab the edge of the ring and yank myself up and turn to shout at her angrily. "Well what do you expect?! If you won't let me dodge then I'm just going to get hi-" Something makes contact with the back of my head and I crumple to the floor as darkness takes over._

_The next thing I know I'm awake in the training centre's infirmary, Enobaria beside my bed looking agitated._

He'd felt bad about hitting me saying he didn't realise my back was turned, which I believe… but I lost without even landing a hit, and that's just embarrassing, if I even try to get out of his grip now, I know I'll just look stupid trying to struggle and he'll laugh as he keeps me put with ease.

"Maybe I'm comfy?" I go to relax in his grip and he just chuckles lightly, and butterflies rise in my stomach slightly, I've always loved his laugh.

"Yeah, sure, and I'm Enobaria." I let out a small bark of laughter before falling into a small fit of giggles at his words, his grip relaxing slightly as he joins in my laughter, though still enough to hold me in his lap.

After a few moments we cough ourselves back to normal and I lift my head up gently to kiss him on the cheek, though he turns his head quickly so that his soft lips meet mine.

"We've not won yet Clove…" Sighing, I turn my head to lean against his chest, and he rests his chin on my head, his tone ever so slightly sad.

"I know…" For a moment, it was as if we'd already won, we'd killed a slightly difficult opponent, and I woke up his arms. I only wish I'd woke up in his arms back in district 2, or in the remake centre or one the ride back at least. "Cato… I just want to go home."

"I know Clove… just one more to go, okay?"

"Just one more." I smile slightly. Just Thresh, just the boy who came into the arena with us from district 11, amongst the other 21 tributes that are now buried back in their corresponding districts., 12 might even still be on the way back to the capitol, or more likely on the train back to district 12 to be buried amongst all the other failed district 12 tributes. Maybe they'll even bury him next to his little crush Katniss, or maybe they burned her. I would've done.

"Just one more, and then we can go home." He agrees, and pulls me up so my whole body is now in his lap and he's cradling me almost like a child, though I suppose I am one, kind of, I'm as small as one, that's for sure.

"Cato…?" I look up tentatively, biting my lip slightly."

"Yeah?"

"We're going to have to go into the grain fields to get him aren't we?" Ever since he took refuge in those fields we've been afraid to follow. The grains taller than even Cato once you're a few metres in, and with 11 being the district of agriculture, Thresh will have been able to identify every piece of grain with ease, it's as though he's home probably, and none of us dared go after him. Out of all our competitors, he was always the one we feared most, to an extent, district 1 and 12 were to be feared, especially when Katniss got her 11.

I'm just glad I can be thankful that Cato shouted me when Thresh appeared or else… Well… there might have only been one victor from district 2 after all.

"Unless you want the gamemakers to drive us together… yes, but… that would be –"

"Too unpredictable…"

"Yeah…" He looks at me sadly as I let out another sigh of despair. If the gamemakers were what drove us together, one of us could end up dead as we were being chased to the centre, we still might be, for all we know they'll drive us together as we go to look for him. The grain field is a big area; they might end up just driving us out anyway, though I hope not. If I die, I want it to be from someone else's hand, let them, they who care truly about the murder they've done, and have my death on their conscience. I refuse to let it be by the hand of some Gamemaker who just came up with an 'idea', to get themselves promoted or however the hell it works.

"Can we at least… not do it today? Take a day off?" Cato laughs lightly as he brushes a strand of my hair from my face and behind my ear.

"Alright Clo. We'll have the rest of the day off." The use of his nickname for me makes me smile sweetly at him as I snuggle closer into his body.

"Tomorrow though, Okay?" I close my eyes gently as his words meet my ears, and I nod into his chest.

"Yeah… okay, tomorrow."

"And then we can go home."

"And then we can go home." I smile, before slowly drifting off to sleep, only just realising how tired I really am, and with the amount of safety I feel in Cato's arms, maybe I'll finally be able to get a good night's sleep is this damn arena.

He shifts slightly and puts his jacket behind him as a cushion, keeping me propped up gently, before he settles back down and hugs me closer to him, before he too closes his eyes, and drifts to sleep.

Just one more kill, and then we can go home.

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**Thanks for reading guys! Maybe tell me what you think in a review? ;)**

**By the way, this is the penultimate chapter of their time in the games, and then there'll just be a few chapters afterwards, should I do a sequel?**

**-Tara**

**xxx**


	6. The Final Obstacle

**Just Thresh left guys, this is the last chapter within the games, there will be a few more and then it'll end.**

**I hope you like it, review? Please? Maybe? Am I begging? :P**

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Chapter 6 - The Final Obstacle

Cato's POV

As we make our way along the line of trees, always keeping far enough in so as to stay out of sight, my stomach feels queasy.

Clove holds her knives, spinning them nervously in her hands as she stays 10 paces behind me, stepping where I step so easily she doesn't even need to pay attention.

Just one more to go Clove… Just one more.

I draw to a stop and know she's stopped with me for the soft sounds of her footsteps don't meet my ears. Ahead I see the end of the trees, a small, open plain, and then the steady rise of the grass until it forms the wheat field well known to both of us, the wheat field we swore we'd avoid no matter what the cost. The Wheat field we're about to enter.

My hand goes gently to my sword hilt, and I draw it from its sheathe; not wanting Thresh to hear the soft sound of sword leaving sheathe as I treck through the unknown plain.

Clove comes beside me and looks to me softly biting her lip in worry she doesn't want to show. I put a finger to my lips to tell her to be quiet, before lowering my sword and kissing her softly.

The familiar feeling of fireworks erupts within me as our lips touch and I want nothing more than to stay like this forever. Do we really have to kill Thresh? Can't they just kill him off and announce us as the winners here and now?

My hand runs gently through her silken ponytail, and I tighten it slightly for her, brushing the singular strand of hair that wriggled free of the binds, out of her face and tucked away once more, snug behind her ear.

She smiles slightly as she ends the kiss, yet there is sadness within it and I know she's afraid. Not wanting to resist the urge, I wrap my arm around her, bringing her into a tight hug, where she buries her head into my chest. I feel her tenseness for a few moments, and then she relaxes.

She lets out a small cough and pushes herself away, her eyes looking straight into mine, the usual cruel determination within them once more. A silent 'I'm ready' present in her expression, and at my nod, we turn and head towards the edge of her safe haven, our positions lowering, our weapons raised.

I've never felt this type of grass against my skin before, and it's almost a curious feeling. In district two we have many apartments, the training centre, cement, and very few areas of leisure, save the house gardens with their high wooden fences around them, and the field owned by the training centre, a wood really, grow for purely training purposes, but none of these places have such a feel as this. The soft, light touch against my arm as the grass rises up ever more, and even though I'm crouched, I know that the taller grasses ahead of me will rise high enough that even if I stood to full height, the top of my head would be concealed.

It's awkward to walk though, trying to position my feet so that they hit the floor and do not force the plants around me to sink with each step, marking my pathway, as well as showing where I am, should 11 be anywhere near here.

_Thump, Thump, Thump_. I can hear the pounding of my heart in ears and I slow my breathing in an attempt to calm myself down. I know he's a strong opponent, and he's escaped from us, not only once, but twice now, the bloodbath, where he took one kill, not to mention a weapon, and the feast. Both times, the cornucopia is the similarity, the place of even ground, no hiding, and no safe spots; just open ground. Here, he has the advantage, and it terrifies me.

We're trained to be able to withstand incredibly high or low temperatures, trained to be able to climb and run and dodge and jump, trained to be able to use disadvantages to our advantage, but never have they trained us like this. As careers, we frequently go into enemy territory, we are the hunters, yet an enemy has never been so well prepared as Thresh is now, but I can't lose. _We_ can't lose. We need to go home, and we need to go home today, he's the final obstacle in our way.

I look across to Clove and nod slowly, the area isn't incredibly thick, and so I indicate that it's safe to spread out slightly, if only by a few metres. I hold up 2 fingers, to indicate 20, and she nods back, and both of us angle ourselves so that we slowly spread out, going 10 metres each away from our start point.

We're deep in by now, there must be at least 70 metres worth of field to the back of us, yet still no sign of the dark skinned mountain that almost attacked Clove, that succeeded in escaping, that has been perhaps the most threatening individual I've laid my eyes on in this entire game, even if Katniss did get a higher score, she's dead. He's not.

"CATO!" At the sound of Clove's panicked screams I turn and run.

A knife flies a few metres west of me but I only notice it for a split second before my attention is on the tall muscled figure ahead of me. As I run towards them, Clove crumpled to the floor, his fist having made contact with her cheek, and in moments he's got her by the hair, dragging her to her feet hair, his other hand rising to grasp her chin.

"NO!" Adrenaline floods through me and within seconds or perhaps less, I've crossed the distance between us and my fist has gone straight or his gut.

He lets out a choke and drops her, stumbling back before reaching his fallen sword. I grasp mine and without hesitation I swing for him.

I don't have time to check on Clove, I just have to hope that she's fine, hope that she's alright, but there was no cannon so I know that she's alive, or at least she is for now.

Clove's POV

I crumple to the floor as he releases me and quickly roll away, my cheek aching in pain.

When I turn I see Cato swinging for him, yet Thresh brings his up to parry it. They move so quickly it's like watching them in fast forward, like the victors back home when they do demonstrations, when Brutus fights Tiberius, it's as though the two victors have possessed these two tributes, but there is more to this fight, in this fight there _will_ be a death, there will be no ceasing due to tiredness, or stopping as one places his sword to the others neck, before removing it. That will not happen. Someone will die, and it _won't_ be Cato.

I swing my legs around and place my knuckles on the floor, a knife still in each of my hands, and I push myself up quickly. A knife flies through the air yet it misses Thresh as he dodges yet another swing from Cato. I want to say that Cato has the upper hand, but he doesn't.

We always knew this would be the worst fight, the longest fight, and the hardest fight. Even in the late hours of the previous evening we both dreaded it, postponed it to now.

Thresh knew this fields like the back of his hand, he's had the whole time that we've been in this damn arena to walk them, learn them, for all I know he's even drawn himself a map, marking the tallest grasses, the edible grasses, the best place to sleep. It's what we'd have done.

He was upon me before I knew what had happened. There was a soft thud as he jumped towards me, and when I turned, I'd only just dodged his swing in time, though it clipped my shoulder with such a force that I practically span away from him, almost collapsing.

I screamed for Cato on complete instinct, and let loose a knife towards Thresh's' head. He dodged it and sprinted to the left, and for his size, he was quick on his feet. I heard Cato's sprinting in a matter of seconds and saw him emerge as I loosed my second knife for Thresh's Chest. It slashed across his arm as he tilted his body aside, but not enough to stop him lunging his fist towards my cheek and sending me spiralling back to the floor.

I'd barely hit the ground before I was yanked up again, my cheek, shoulder and head hurting so badly I couldn't even find the strength to struggle before Cato's familiar scream met my ears, and I crumpled back down as the thick hand released me.

If not for Cato I would be dead, he's saved me enough times from Thresh now, I refuse to not pay him back.

In moments I'm sprinting towards them. A clearing has started to form from the amount of grass the two swords have sliced through.

A sword swings around me but I duck it and roll to the side. Their footwork is so quick and swings so powerful, it's hard to get close enough to even do anything. I shrug off my jacket, the weight of the knives hindering my speed, and then lurch forwards to sink one of the two I have into Thresh's leg.

He shouts in agony and I roll away as he staggers back. I see a flash of a smirk of Cato's face as I spin around, back to my feet once more. Cato glances towards me, and for a moment I see comfort in his eyes that he now knows I'm okay, yet as I fling my second knife towards Thresh, his attention is brought back to the enemy in hand, and he brings up his sword to block the powerful blow that was headed towards him.

His strength behind the block isn't enough and he sword flies away from his hand. He jumps back, avoiding a second swing but without looking I know there is fear in his eyes. With no weapon he will be unable to defend against such a powerful opponent.

I fling myself to the ground and skid across the hard floor, snapping out two knives from the fallen jacket, and pushing myself to my knees I look to him, my arm raised ready to release.

"Cato!" He jumps back from another swing, making sure to shift himself towards me, if only partially, and in the moments where 11 gathers his strength, he looks to me, and I fling my knife towards him. As easily as if I had thrown it in slow motion, he plucks it from the air, spins it, and as 11 brings his sword up, about to make the finish blow and swing it down towards Cato's head, a knife is pushed into his stomach a Cato ducks and, his palm on its hilt, pushes it into his gut.

For a moment, he holds him there as the sword falls from his grasp and he coughs and splutters, hot blood spraying from his mouth and trickling down Cato's back.

A large claw-like hand struggles in an attempt to grab onto him, but I don't pay attention, I hear him gurgle and shout as Cato twists my dagger, and I start to run, my eyes fixed on 11, straight on his back.

I leap at him and swing a powerful arm around his neck in a choke hold to hold me in place, my legs wrapping tightly around his waist just below where Cato still holds the knife, and before he can so much as utter his final words, My other arm comes around, and in a quick, sharp movement, I've brought it straight across his throat, a large slit opening at its touch, and warm blood spilling from it.

Cato removes his knife and darts to the side, drenched in 11's blood, as I unravel my legs from around him and kick off of his back, landing carefully on the floor and skidding slightly, one arm outstretched, the other down, gripping to the thick grass to stop me from falling, as the body, the _corpse_ is propelled forwards and lands in a heap a few metres ahead.

_BOOM_

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the victors of the 74th annual Hunger Games, Cato Evans and Clove Sicam!"

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**Okay ladies and gents, the games are over, there will only be a few more chapters, perhaps taking me up to 10, before I call it to a halt.**

If any of you are curious as to why I didn't do the whole 'rule change reverts back', I'll explain why in my next chapter, though I'd love to hear your thoughts about it, especially if you have any guesses as to why I didn't revert it back :)

**Thanks for still reading!**

**-Tara**


	7. Victors

**Okay hey guys, I know I said I was going to tell you why I didn't change the rules back in the last chapter, BUT (and please don't kill me) I'm going to save it until I've finished this Fanfiction, because if you want me to do a sequel, then it's going to be incorporated into that, rather than just in an author's note at the end, but yes that's up to you.**

**Anyhow, here's chapter 7!**

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Chapter 7 - Victors

Cato's POV

Cheers, shrieks, and screams, echo around us, no doubt live from the capitol. I turn and laugh happily, taking a gracious bow in a random direction, showing my love to my supporters. I hear Clove's laughter behind me and I quickly turn and pull her into my arms, spinning her with much more elegance than I thought was capable from both of us, before dipping her like I've seen professional dancers do on one of the many capitol programmes, and kissing her full on the lips.

Fireworks erupt within me and I never want to let go. The thought of going home with her is almost too much to comprehend, but it's true, we've done it, we can go.

After what seems like years, we break apart and I can't help but laugh triumphantly as a hovercraft appears above us, and two ladders are thrown down. Still clutching her in my arms, I grab on to the one on the left, not wanting to let her go, and we're both frozen in place by the electric current as we're pulled up.

Only now that I'm above the arena do I really see how large it is, a great expanse of land covered in trees, wheat, water, rivers, and who knows what else. So many places we went to, so many memories in each separate area. Even from here I can see our old campsite where we were first told that two tributes could go home, together.

_"Attention Tributes!" Clove and I look up confused, the voice is in fact coming from everywhere but it's so godlike that we always look to the sky._

_"We would like to inform you that there has been a change to the rules." Now I'm really confused… what, we don't have to kill anymore…? Everyone must fight without weapons? _

_"From this moment onwards, there may now be two victors, should they both be from the same district." What…?_

_Clove's head snaps towards me yet I'm still trying to work out what's just happened._

_"The… the rule change… two tributes from the same district… we're going home? Cato, Cato!"_

_"Wha-" I look to her confused, we're going… home?_

_"We're going home! The rule change! We're going home!"_

We kissed straight after that, I couldn't believe what I was doing but I did it. I dreaded coming into the arena with her, with my best friend, terrified she'd die, and dreading the time when I might go home, and not have her there waiting for me, to congratulate me and laugh with me, and then sarcastically correct me on how I should have made a kill in a different way, and how if I'd don't something else, then I wouldn't have been injured, or anything along those lines, yet there was the rule change. They may have done it for district 12, I'm sure they did, Peeta admitted at the interviews that he was in love with a girl, and that she 'came here with him', but it doesn't matter, because even if they did do the rule change for them, it affected us too, and we're the ones who won, us, Clove, and me.

Never before have I been so comforted by the sight and smell of blood, for I am drenched in it, yet it is the blood of Thresh, our final opponent, who we both killed together. I smile down at her as we near the door, and she rests herself gently against me. I know she's covered in his blood now too, yet I don't care, it's only when I feel my chest get warmer do I start to feel confused.

I raise an eyebrow at her, and when she looks up I see that she's much paler than before. "Clove…?"

She smiles meekly at me, and I open my mouth to shout when many pairs of arms grab me from behind and wrench me from her, a similar set pulling Clove away. She blinks in shock and goes to struggle and I can barely hear anyone through the mass amounts of shouting and screaming, of which most comes from me, though I barely realise it.

After a few moments Clove looks down to her chest, and so do I. A large portion of it has been slashed from a sword, her clothes cut and fresh blood slowly spilling from her. I shout at her as the medics grab her and pull her onto a stretcher.

"Cato! Cato!" She shouts my name and I struggle even harder, the arms that grab me becoming ever stronger and more and more coming towards me, trying their best to stop me running towards her and taking her in my arms and not letting any of them touch her.

"Clove! Clove come back!"

"Marcus!" I look around wildly as a peacekeeper shouts hoarsely for a medic, and I panic as a man in white comes towards me, but as I open my mouth to let out another scream, the needle pierces my skin.

* * *

When I wake up I'm lying in a soft bed with a shining light visible behind my closed eyelids and it's as if I've gone back in time, before any of this happened, before we got onto the hovercraft that took us to the damn arena. For a moment it feels like I never left, like I haven't been to the games, that Clove will be in the other room fast asleep and later we'll go to training together and meet Marvel and Glimmer and Coral, and try to convince Thresh to join in our alliance.

Only when I open my eyes and try to push myself up and find myself restricted by some chord or band around my wrist do I remember that it's not true. Only then do I remember that Marvel, Glimmer, Coral, Katniss, Thresh, all of them, even the ones who's faces I know yet names I don't, all of them are dead. All of the tributes in that arena are dead and by now, buried back in their appropriate districts, but not us. Not Clove and not me. But where is she?

I struggle angrily at the chord and struggle even harder when I see no visible doors or windows in the room, just me and this bed. The air smells so thickly of just plain cleanliness that it sickens me, it feels so unnatural that I hate it. A few tubes are poking from my right arm, and I snarl annoyedly.

Something clicks in my mind and everything comes flooding back to me. Thresh's death, the ladder, the hovercraft, Clove's chest, and the stabbing sensation as a needle was thrust into my arm. I twitch involuntarily at the memory, I've always hated needles, and glancing down I see the point where it entered, how they managed to get me in the right spot I don't even know.

Clove… I don't understand how she was cut, she seemed fine, save for what was no doubt a broken jaw and a few bruises and cuts from previous fights, so how did she receive such a serious injury? Only two people had a sword in that last battle, Thresh, and me. Was it me? Did I hurt her like that? I couldn't have, could I?

Brutus once said that when he was in the arena, he had an urge to win, he knew that he had to, to bring honour to his district, and something clicked within him, at one point he was making attacks without even realising he was doing it, he just knew that he had to kill whoever was still breathing, whoever's cannon hadn't yet fired, until they announced that he had won.

Had that happened to me? Had I attacked her without realising, my subconscious self having forgotten the rule change and just swinging my sword and whoever was living?

Or what if it was just an accident? What if she'd gotten to close before our final moves and I'd slashed across her then, could I have done? But surely I only attacked Thresh; I didn't even see her… right?

A portion of wall opens in front of me and an avox comes in and presses a button I hadn't even realised was there, which bends and morphs the bed so that I am now in a sitting position. She places a tray on my legs and I look down at it annoyedly. I feel a great amount of hunger, yet I can't make myself eat, now until I know about Clove.

"Where is she, Where's Clove!" The avox blinks at me, and turns to go, and I shout at her loudly. "Where is she!" The tray flies off of me as I kick it off with my thigh, and a great clattering sound reaches my ears. "Tell me where she is! I have to see her!" I struggle wildly and the tubes move dangerously in my arm, almost falling out, before I feel a cold liquid force itself into my veins, and I once again fall unconscious.

Every time I wake after that, the same proceedings follow, until finally on the third occasion, I eat the meagre bowl of brother that the avox places on my lap, and can't help but feel shocked at how hard I'm finding it to eat. I've no idea how long I've been in this place but my stomach feels as though it's shrunk dramatically.

After two more unconscious and then waking up again periods, I find myself free of the aggravating chord around my wrist, and no tubes sticking out of my arm.

I push myself up and blink at the sight of my hands. My palms, which were once hard and coarse from so much sword training, and which received so many cuts and scars from my time in the arena with the bark and prickled plants, are soft and smooth. Looking at my arm, I can't even see where the tubes must have entered me, for there is not a single hole or mark anywhere.

I stand and dress quickly in the clothes laid out for me, the clothes we wore in the arena, and walk towards what I think is the door. It's not. For a few seconds I walk around going to hit different parts of the walls, before one portion of it finally slides open and I almost fall through.

Stepping out, I look left and right down a long, blank corridor, though I know that it isn't blank, that along it are similarly concealed doors leading to similarly blank rooms, and one of them will have Clove, and I have to see her.

"Look who it is, the latest victor." I spin around confusedly at the sound of Enobaria's voice, and spot her, Brutus, our escort, and my stylist, (_great)_, in a sitting room at the end.

"Where's Clove?" In any usual circumstance, I'd treat her with respect, great her, bow my head, anything, but I couldn't care less right now, I can only think of Clove, not paying respects to this stupid mentor.

Enobaria narrows her eyes slightly, and I know she's pissed, "She's in a room similar to yours, and you're not to go looking for her." Right, sure.

"How did it happen?" My eyes fix on hers, the possibility that it was me that hurt Clove is simply too much, and I have to know whether or not it was, I don't even care that my escort is there and looking slightly offended that I haven't addressed her yet.

"Thresh cut her when he punched her, it was a double move… I find it odd that neither of you realised." Relief sweeps through me, knowing that it wasn't my fault seems to lift a great weight off of my shoulders, yet she's still hurt, and, bringing myself back to the present, I concentrate on Enobaria once more.

"Why didn't we…?"

"Clove's shirt was already so torn that it didn't look any different, even if it was a much larger gash than normal. It didn't start bleeding until both of you had even finished fighting, don't ask me how, because I don't know, perhaps the shirt fell down and covered it, and she was so full of adrenaline she didn't even notice I wouldn't be surprised, even if I am disappointed that she didn't realise it was a move that could have killed her. She's lucky you always arrived to save her…" Her tone is cold and, almost angry.

"How can you be disappointed?! We won?!" I don't hide the anger from my face, how dare she be _disappointed_ in Clove, _her_ mentee, how?!

"Perhaps… and you have received a lot of publicity, but if you hadn't come to her rescue with Thresh, _both_ times, you remember if you hadn't shouted her at the cornucopia she'd have died then as well, then she wouldn't be here right now, she'd be in a box in the ground back in district two, as you well know."

"But she isn't..." I snarl at her slightly and look to my escort, knowing she'll be the weak.

"Yes Cato, she isn't, shut up Enobaria." My mentor smiles at me happily, and an angry looking Enobaria scowls up at him, I've always wondered who would win in a fight between them.

"Where's her room?"

"I can't te-"

"Where's her room?" My escort looks to me startled as I cut off Brutus and quickly direct my attention to her.

"I-I think she's about fifty metres or so back the way you came, on the left, but you're not meant to go see-"

I don't bother to listen to her finish her sentence, all I care for now is Clove, and before Brutus even has the chance to shout after me; I'm running down the hall to find her.

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**Okay so only a couple more chapter to go guys, Should I do a sequel...?**

**Also, I have an exam on Monday (divinity gcse, eek) so wish me luck :P! Thanks to you all for reading! Big thanks also to Artist quest (Laura) because she is awesome and has happily reviewed so often, so yes, thanks to her! Check out her fanfics ;)**

**Thanks guys! See you next Saturday!**

**-Tara**

**xxxx**


	8. Almost Home

**Hey guys! Sorry this is being updated so late into the night (I'm only just writing it now so knowing me, it won't be updated until Sunday) Just been to see the Great Gatsby and I HIGHLY recommend it, it, was, amazing. Plus ( girls) Leonardo Dicaprio… is just… Well, amazing (and gorgeous)**

**Here's chapter 7 peeps and peepettes! Not many left, next or the one after might be the last one ;3**

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Chapter 7 - Almost home

Clove's POV

When I finally wake every single piece of me is stiff and aching. My eyelids are heavy and sleep still begs at me, willing me to fall back into its embrace, but I know I must have slept enough.

When I force my eyelids to open however, I instantly regret it, a blinding white ceiling with a luminous yellow light shines above me, my eyes almost watering at the mere sight of it. Yet now even when I close them again I can still see the shining bright behind my small eyelids. _Just Great._

The Hunger Games comes back to me in a flash, the start, the bloodbath, the deaths, the victory, the hovercraft, my chest. My right hand flies up to inspect it, and as soon as it makes contact with the cut I flinch and let out an annoyed hiss. Gently this time, I run my hand along it, top to bottom. It's only partially angled, but enough, from below my left shoulder, down to below my ribs on my right side.

I raise my hand to my face and am shocked to see how coarse it has become, my hands were always coarse I suppose, having always been treated to holding the hilt of a weapon, often a dagger, and it's not like I ever used moisturiser like my elder sister did, but to see how it's gotten even harder, chapped in places even, the skin peeling and cuts all over it from the many twigs and branches, it shocks me. Only now when I'm away from the arena, away from witnessing the usual trees and twigs that attacked me at every moment, do I realise how bad my body has become.

I try to sit up yet find myself constrained. My left wrist is tied to the bed, not allowing me to raise myself more than a few centimetres. Tubes are dug into my arm and before I know it I'm screaming, terror flooding through every pore of my body.

"CATO! CATO! HELP! ENOBARIA! BRUTUS!" I keep thinking that it's a trap, a final obstacle, what if they really didn't do a rule change? What if the capitol liked Cato more and so they're killing me off so that there's still only one victor, or what if they're holding us both and pumping some kind of acid through us to see who can survive, and as soon as one dies they'll quickly heal the other and crown them the victor, is Cato held like this too?

"CATO!" I need to see him, I need to, and I have too.

The whole room is white, with no cracks, no creases, no doors, no windows, not even a ventilation system, just this room, with this white tile floor, with the white sheets, white pillow white _everything_, the only different shades being the silver metal of the bed and the luminous yellow light above my head so that I'm not engulfed in darkness, though with the brightness of the walls I doubt this room could ever be truly dark.

"CATO!" I thrash madly, back and forth back and forth, until the tubes slip from my arm and clatter to the floor, whatever is in them dripping out and staining the perfectly clean floor beneath it. Thrashing more, I end up rolling straight over one edge of the bed, letting out a shriek as my still bound hand twists itself behind me as I fall, putting myself in an arm lock.

I hear a soft sound and turn in fear to see a portion of the wall slide open and five people, three men and two women, all dressed in white, coming towards me quickly, reaching out to grab me.

I let out a scream and go to bite at my bind to the bed.

Thick hands clasp around me and try to wrench me back but I kick and scream. They let out scared mutterings, amongst them "Grab her!", "She's a danger to herself!" It just makes me struggle harder.

My movement is mostly confined, though one medic lies winded on the floor, when a needle is practically stabbed into the inside of my left arm, exactly where the tubes where. Then darkness.

When I wake again, the tubes are back in my arm, and now both of my wrists are tied, as well as my feet. Whatever hope I had of escaping is gone now.

"Let me out of here!"

The same portion of wall opens and a medic enters with a clipboard. "Miss Treylie, please _please_ calm down, you are in no danger here."

I glare at her furiously. If I'm in no danger, then why am I being confined like this? "Let me go!" My voice is demanding, and I'm pleased when she recoils slightly, they should know not to mess with me, I'm a district 2 tribute after all.

"Miss Treylie please, let me explain. This is the recovery centre for victors, when you won you were badly wounded, the tribute from district 11 sliced you when he held you, but the doctors say that due to the adrenaline and the battle that began between both of you and your district partner, you did not notice it, and only after the ladder was lowered to take you back up into the hovercraft did both of you begin to notice the blood pouring from the wound and covering your shirt. The medical team on board grabbed you instantly in the hope to save you before anything serious happened. You'll be glad to know I'm sure that it wasn't as deep as we feared and nothing serious was injured, your cheek and shoulder are also fine, your shoulder was broken but we mended it without too much trouble. Your chest may begin to scar, but with a certain ointment we can avoid even that."

"No… I want the scar." I'm amazed with myself that I've even managed to keep up with this woman's speech, especially with the thick capitol accent of hers. "Where's Cato, I need to see him."

"He is in recovery as well in a separate portion of this building, I'm afraid you are not able to see him until both of you are well enough." Panic swells up within me; I thought he was fine, what does he need to recover from?

"He's not injured as badly as you were however, we must merely tend to his cuts and help put the lost weight back onto him, in the arena I'm afraid you dropped quite a few pounds, when you came in her both sets of your ribs were quite visible, thankfully not dangerously so, we've had both of you on a drip for about a week. This is your eighth day here."

"How long until I can see him?"

"I suspect that you will be allowed to leave in a few more days, once we have returned your skin to a decent manner." In other words, when they've made me look like some kind of doll with skin so soft I probably won't be able to hold a knife without it slipping from my grasp.

"Undo my binds."

"I can't do that." I snarl annoyedly at her, yet bring myself to a stop when I realise that that won't get me anywhere.

I take a breath, before emitting a word that rarely _ever_ leaves my lips. "Please. At least back until it was just my left wrist? I… I don't like it." I curse myself inwardly at how weak I sound in this last statement, we're never meant to show weakness, never as tributes, but definitely not as victors, yet this feeling of total immobility is too much to bear, and I know that if I'm kept like this for much longer, I'll go mad.

"Well… alright." She comes over to me and undoes my right wrist, and both of my ankles, and I stretch slightly, even though I still can't raise myself perfectly.

"Thanks…" She looks approvingly at me, and I'm just glad that no-one I know is in this room with me, Treylie's aren't known for ever saying thank you, ever.

She leaves me without another word, and the portion of wall closes behind her. A few minutes later an avox arrives with a tray of food for me, and when she presses a button, my bed morphs itself into a sitting position, as a spoon is put in my hand, and the tray is set on my lap.

It's a small meal, yet I manage to eat it. They warned us our appetites would decrease massively in the arena; they starved us in an exercise once, when I was 14 and Cato 16. We have our own personal woodland and as a 'survival' experience, they took all the trainee's from the ages of 14 and 16 into the area and separated us into groups. We knew our groups when we went in, and we told we would go there for a week and were only to take a sleeping bag and the clothes on our backs.

When we went in, we weren't allowed food, they were testing us to see how we'd cope without it, they led us to some streams to drink, but by day 4 all of us were weak. That night however, Cato and I were 'on watch' not that anyone was going to attack us, and he giggled happily when we took up our positions.

_"What's up with you?"_

_Turning, Cato shows me a small bag in his hand and when he opens it, he reveals a singular, small, Jam sandwich._

_"How did you get that in here?" My stomach grumbles instantly at the sight of it, and I clutch it quickly to try and shut it up in case anyone hears._

_"How did you get that in here?" I repeat, quietening my voice to no more than a whisper._

_"Snuck it in with my sleeping bag." He smiles at me evilly, before splitting it and offering me half._

We couldn't stop giggling all the time that we were on watch, and I don't think a sandwich has ever tasted twice as good.

Once I finish it, a liquid is pumped through my veins and I am forced back into the land of sleep, with only my dreams of Cato and half a Jam sandwich keep me company.

* * *

The fifth time that I wake up, I find my wrist unbound, the scars all over me gone (Save the one of my chest which I requested to be kept, a mere reminder of my time there) and the tubes that constantly controlled my sleeping patterns throughout my time here, removed from my arm, the hole they made also gone.

I twist myself around and go to stand, and instantly fall back on my bed. I've not had a single day of my life without moving, save for the rare sick days when I couldn't go into school as a child, and the singular day when I missed training, and even then, when I was puking into the toilet for every passing hour, I was scolded the next day "You can't take a sick day when you're in the arena!" Enobaria had told me.

My legs are weak and numb, and I have to wiggle my toes and rub them slightly to get the feeling back into them and my circulation going properly.

My clothes, new ones from what I wore in the arena surprisingly, though then I remember that my shirt had a massive slash in it unless thresh managed to cut me without cutting my shirt, which is unlikely, lie on the end of my bed.

The outfit consists of simple green top, black leggings, and a pair of boots that go up to just under my knee. A cardigan is also laid out for me, but I don't bother to put it on, I don't need it.

A portion of wall opens, and the one person I've dreaded even more than my escort, walks straight on in, Miranda Goldenbloom, my dreaded, annoying, stupid stylist. As her last name suggests, she's coated in gold paint, and tattoos of different blossomed flowers cover her body, she's like a walking painting.

"Clove! I knew you'd win!" She smiles and embraces me, and I narrow my eyes but don't protest.

"Come now, we need to get you ready for your interview, it's in around 5 hours dear." She beams up at me as she pulls away, holding my wrists in her perfectly manicured hands, as her eyes scan me up and done. "Oh just look at you, they've fixed you up _perfectly_ your skin is just… brilliant!" She giggles happily and goes to take me towards the door.

"They told me you wanted to keep the scar on your chest, but the outfit I've designed for you will cover it anyway."

"Wait what? But I like it." If she hears me, she doesn't act like it. Typical.

"You'll love it I'm sure, and all the girls are ready for you back on your floor, we're taking you straight to your room, though I'm sure you can get a little something to have for lunch when we get there, and then we must wash you, removing all excess hair, I begged the medical team to do that when they were fixing you, but _apparently_ they only wanted to restore your body rather than take it apart, silly in my opinion, it could have saved us so much time!"

My head spins as her words go straight in one ear, and straight out the other, but then my brain clicks and a singular name comes to the front of my mind.

"Wait, where's Cato?" I drag myself to a stop and she almost falls into me, yet quickly retains her balance on her high stilettos and turns to look at me.

"You can't see him yet, didn't they tell you? Come _on_ dear, or you won't be ready in time." She nips annoyedly at me, and I know she wants nothing more than to use me like a toy doll and dress me up in whatever the heck she's made.

"No I need to see Cato!" I stand defiantly and she crosses her arms and glares at me as we stand in a pure white corridor.

"You're to meet him on stage and no matter what either of us do we can't change that, so don't make this harder and just come upstairs, he's fine, last I heard he was still asleep in his room, and No I'm not telling you where it is and it would take far too long for you to find it anyway, now come on."

"Go with her now Clove, that's an order…" I spin around to see Enobaria behind me, Brutus and our escort sat in a lobby behind her. She smiles at me, though with her it's never a genuine smile, and I know she's just showing off her pointed golden teeth, almost as a threat.

"Bu-"

"I'll tell Cato where you are when he emerges, he'll be going straight up to get ready soon anyways, and if he's not up within the hour he will be woken up or else you won't be in time for your interview, now _go."_

I open my mouth to argue, but know it will be no use, and so I obediently turn and let Miranda lead me to the elevator, where she pushes the number '2' button, and we begin our ascent to where my prep team wilfully await me.

At least I only have to wait a few hours before I can see him again, and not long after that, we can go home.

* * *

**Okay here's the chapter guys! Sorry that this is barely a Saturday update, my bad! I did try to make it a little bit longer than usual (not sure if I succeeded) I hope I did.**

**By the way thank you to everyone who wishes me luck on my exam on Monday, it went okay and I think I got an A or a B, not great, but not too awful, I'll get my result in August and when I do I'll let you all know ;)**

**Hope you liked it! Maybe leave me a review to tell me how much you did ;) Even if you're a visitor and don't have an account, you can still review, I know loads of you read it and I greatly appreciate every single one!**

**Thank you all!**

**-Tara**

**PS: Happy birthday to Laura, loyal (and awesome) reader. Welcome to teenager-hood (is that even a word..?) Count this chapter as your birthday present from me!**


	9. Clove's Favourite People

**Heya, sorry I missed uploading last week, had a busy day and, well tbh it was more laziness, but here's Chapter 9! And thank you for the reviews last week, plus over 100 of you all looked at my story last time I updated, and even if you were only one of the ones who just glanced at chapter one and carried on, I still want to say thank you for looking ^_^!**

**Also, I'm going to make the NEXT one, the last chapter. Hope you like this one though!**

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Chapter 9 – Clove's Favourite People

Cato's POV

"What do you mean she's not here?!" I turn in the open doorway and glower at Brutus whilst Enobaria smirks behind him, and behind her my escort blinks confusedly.

"I was about to tell you…" He sighs and brushes through his hair with a large coarse hand. "She woke up about an hour before you did when I was getting coffee," _I almost forgot how much he loved that stupid drink_ "Enobaria told me she'd left when I got back."

Furious, I turn on Enobaria and snarl at her, even though she's a mentor, even though she won by ripping open the neck of her final opponent with her teeth, and they now glint at me in the low light, the sharpened gold shining brightly at me menacingly, I don't care, how _dare_ she not tell me.

She raises and eyebrow and smiles mockingly which only angers me more. "Didn't I tell you? Oh but of course, I forgot, how silly of me." _Bitch_.

"Where is she?"

"She went upstairs to the apartment with her stylist to see her prep team, and you will be doing the same with your stylist in a few moments. I told her I'd tell you, must have slipped my mind, she was so edgy after waking up… it's so cute its sick."

"Brutus, I have to see her." Having gained all the information from Enobaria that I'm going to get, I instantly shun her, if she attacks me or gets annoyed, I really couldn't care less.

He sighs at me and places a hand on my shoulder, much like a father would to a son, though I wouldn't know, it's more like how Tyson used to treat me. "Cato the president wants your first sight of Clove outside of that arena, to be on the stage before the interview. You can't see her, but you will tonight, unless you keep your prep team waiting, and the longer you do that, the further away seeing Clove becomes."

"Why!"

"Good television…" He looks to me almost darkly and I scowl at him, I know I'm acting more like a child being denied his favourite sweet, but at this moment in time all I want to do is kill the President for forcing me to be postponed from seeing her, my Clove, my… is she my girlfriend? I don't even know.

"Now go, Titritus is waiting for you."

"Of course… the great stylist Titritus and his marvellously annoying prep team. Great." All Brutus does is smirk at me and before I know it, a perfectly manicured hand has rested itself on my arm and is dragging me away. "Come come now Cato, don't want to keep the people waiting!"

And so my hell begins.

Titritus is a short man, rather plump, always dressing in disgustingly bright colours (today he picks yellow, no idea why) with bright hair that I swear must be either dyed daily or be a wig, that matches whatever he wears atop of his head and tied into a sleek ponytail, and finally, is probably the most annoying man I've ever had to meet.

The usual custom with stylists is that the girl gets the male stylist, and the boy gets the female, which would mean that I should've been landed with Clove's stylist, yet they decided instead to just change that around this year no doubt for us alone, and I also doubt I'll ever find out why.

Throughout the trip to the apartment my stylist refuses to shut up. Whether it's talk of the games, the gossip, or the best places to eat in the city (why he tells me that I don't know) he doesn't shut up. The only thought that lingers in my head is the small reminder that in just a few hours I'll get to see Clove, and once I see Clove, I know everything will be fine, just a few more hours to go, if only it wasn't with this idiot.

* * *

Clove's POV

"Ow!" I quickly lurch away as the smallest member of my prep team comes towards me again with yet another wax strip. She sighs and the other two grab me quickly. "Let go of me! Let go dammit! Cato!"

"Clove, will you stop shouting, we need to get all this hair off of you or you'll look awful for the interviews! Now keep still, I still have the other leg to do and it'll only take longer the more you struggle." The temptation to kick her in the face is so great that my foot twitches and it takes all my strength to stop it.

"It'll be over soon dear, all the capitol women do it you know, and your legs will look so beautiful afterwards, the people won't be able to take their eyes of off you." A sweet, smiley woman with bubble-gum pink hair tries to soothe me; it might even have worked if she wasn't aiding her red-haired companion into pinning me down.

"That may be but I don't live in the capitol! Nor do I want to." She looks almost insulted, but I honestly couldn't give less of a shi-

"OW!"

"Oh for goodness sake Clove I thought you were a victor."

I narrow my eyes at the portly woman in front of me. She has long auburn hair that's curled rather elegantly, and enough make-up for half of district 2, yet I don't bother to insult her. Ever since I first met her, I've distrusted her, and more so, disliked her, and I'm quite sure she feels the same way about me.

She's the obvious commander of the other two without a doubt, as whenever she asks (or rather orders) them to do something, it's done in moments without even a seconds hesitation, and it's always them pinning me down against my will whilst she rips my legs off, never her.

It takes an hour before they're finally done with my legs, waxed and rubbed down with lotion, Meira (the auburn-haired woman) simply tuts at me, saying that it should have taken much less time, if only I hadn't struggled. _Well, you're lucky you weren't in the arena with me and we'd see who struggled when a knife was at your throat_, though I don't say it.

They sit me in front of an elaborate dresser with a mirror that goes from far above my head to my waist, resting upon the sleek wooden base beneath it with so many different perfumes, pots and pencils upon it that it may as well not have a wooden base at all but just be a mountain of make-up and scents.

"Hmm... perhaps her hair should be down."

"My hair is _never_ down." I narrow my eyes menacingly at the mirror, having been ordered not to move, they insisted on trimming my hair due to all the 'split ends', it used to be halfway between my shoulders and waist, now it barely falls past my shoulders at all.

"All the more reason." Meira smiles at me sweetly in the mirror, and takes out some contraption she calls 'straighteners'.

"What do they do…?"

"Straighten your hair dear." Bubble tells me, (the name Bubble being what I've given her mentally as I have no idea what her real name is, and I simply remember it being so unpronounceable I gave up trying to remember it, let alone say it).

"It's two pieces of plastic, how will that straighten my hair?"

"Because they grow hot when you turn them on, and the heat straightens your hair when, well you'll see, don't you have them in district 2?"

"I don't know, but I've never heard of them." Beauty contraptions were never something I troubled myself with after all, girls at school decided to steal their parents makeup and high heels, whilst girls like me, or rather, just me, decided to instead dedicate time to throwing knives at a moving board, and considering that the knives saved my life, I think it a better decision.

Whilst they heat up, Bubble and Ginger (again the name I gave her… capitol names are so damn stupid anyway) proceed to brush through my tangled hair. They shoved me straight into a bath as soon as I arrived and poured so much conditioner onto my head by the time they'd washed it out the bath was more conditioner than water. Yet still, each brush tugs at another knot and only by clenching my fist do I force myself to shut up and deal with it.

However as soon as the 'straighteners' run through my hair, I've jumped aside. "You made it steam!"

"Well of course I did… I sprayed heat resistant spray and so it's evaporating it."

"You're going to burn my hair off!" is this seriously what capitol women do?

"Shut up and sit down."

With each piece of hair straightened my face goes hotter and hotter and I can't help but feel an ever present fear that they're going to clip my ears at one point, each time they're at those points of my head they keep coming a tiny bit closer.

At last, they're done, with the straightening at least, and Meira quickly instructs Bubble to tie back two strands of hair behind my head in a ponytail, atop the still free hair. The feel of hair on my shoulders is odd however, especially when I know that I'm not going to bed which is usually the only time I ever let it free, and ever have done for nearly eight years.

Ginger sets to work on my nails and I bite my lip to stop myself shouting at her for cutting them, they're one of the best weapons I have and are always useful against Cato when a knife is too far away, it'll take forever to grow them back to a decent length again.

"Okay so that's the hair, the legs, the finger nails… bubble make sure to do the toes and once that is finished we can set to work on the face."

"She's awfully pale; does Miranda want us to apply some of the fake-tan? We still have some Meira."

_Don't you dare._ "No I don't think we have need of that and it will only take up more time we don't have, at this rate the boy will be done hours before us and the interview won't be able to start until well past midnight, and they're meant to be on their way back by then."

One thing I don't have to worry about at least, but it's still an hour before the interview starts, an hour before I climb onto that stage no longer a tribute, but a victor, and an hour before I see Cato. _Almost there Clove… almost there._

"Ooh! Why don't we use the pink nail polish? I know Miranda wanted gold but wouldn't it just look beautiful!"

_And for another hour, I live in hell._

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**Thanks for reading guys, next time, (last chapter) I promise I'll update on time unless something massive happens, though if that does I'll at least post an A/N explaining why there's no update.**

**Review ;)?**

**-Tara**

**PS: Quick side note, would any of you read a vampire fanfic based on rs? (Runescape, an MMORPG) my friends written one and is curious if people would read it. Let me know :)!**


	10. The final performance, and home

**Heya, okay this is it guys, last chapter. Sorry it a late upload (again...) especially after I promised it wouldn't be, but my fanfiction wouldn't work last night I got some error page, it worked during the day but at night when I went to upload it 'error... please copy this message to support fanficti... blahblah, so yes, apologies! plus my laptop overheated early yesturday so i had to let it cool before I could write the last sections of the chapter (wasn't ready until 8pm :P but then the site wouldn't work for me, I gave up after midnight, sorry)**

**It's working now though, so here's the last chapter. ****Thanks so much to all who read, I hope you like this one too!**

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Chapter 10 – The final performance, and home

Clove's POV

"Oh Clove you look… you look…. Gorgeous!" Bubble squeals and smiles at Ginger whilst Meira nods approvingly.

My prep team finished with me a little while ago and left me in the hands of my stylist, where she was the whole time the prep team were fretting over me I have absolutely no idea. She barely changed anything, the prep team had done everything perfectly (apparently). I had no clue what I looked like facial wise, they took the dresser away to give me, (Miranda more like), more room.

She came in as happy as ever, holding a long black bag which had a zip running down the middle. I raised my eyebrows at it warily when she started to undo it, dreading what might be hidden beneath. Yet I was pleasantly surprised.

Within it was a sleek golden dress that went in slightly at the hips. The sleeves are short, yet flow slightly down my arm. They didn't even try to dress me in heels, last time they tried I just looked at them like they were crazy and told them that if they even tried to fix a heel to anything I wore on my feet, I'd snap it off and throw it at their heads.

There's padding on the inside as, even though we were well fed for the most part of the games, in the days before it ended, Cato and I barely had anything at all, the small feast we had which the gamemakers kindly provided had barely helped, even if it had tasted so good and when I looked in the mirror before, I could still see how gaunt I was, and if I had tried, I know I could count my ribs, though no doubt the medical ward put a lot back on me. In the arena I must have been a skeleton, I'm dreading the re-runs.

The dress only goes to just above the knees and flows out slightly so that if I spin it spins with me in a rather elegant fashion. Yet like the interviews before, I feel vulnerable and weak in such a dress, though it reminds me subtly of what we wore at the parade, golden warrior clothing. A thick leather belt is wrapped around my chest, it was probably too wide to fit around my waist, and it adds the same, gladiator like effect.

Yet the dress isn't what startles me, it's my face. The small, menacing 16 year old girl is gone entirely. My hair isn't drawn back as I like it, but instead it flows down elegantly, down to my elbows, I never realised it was that long. It's straight, so the odd device obviously worked, and hands loose behind me, so perfect is seems like flowing silk, yet two strands stand apart. Two singular curls frame my face, one on each side, I don't even remember them curling my hair yet I can't help but admit that it's just… amazing, though the feeling of hair against my back still discomforts me.

For once, I have to agree with my prep team, I'm beautiful. I'm almost innocent, almost as gorgeous as Glimmer, yet the look in my eyes are the way the leather belt sticks out, as well as matching, knee-high leather boots, still make me appear as a district 2 tribute, a killer, and a victor.

It's perfect.

"I… I love it." Miranda smiles at me happily, almost bouncing up and down on her toes from excitement.

"I _knew_ you would!"

"Come on Clove! We need to take you downstairs; oh the audience is going to love you!" I smile weakly at Ginger and Goosebumps cover my arms, just a few more minutes, and then I'll see Cato, I'll be in his arms again, So close.

I turn to face the door, and look to my stylist determinedly.

"Let's go."

* * *

"Cato Evans if you tug that sleeve one more time I swear I will glue your fingers together!" I sigh and open out my fingers to show I'm not going to. I've been anxious ever since we left the room and have been tugging and tugging at my golden sleeve the whole time, it drives Titritus insane, which I suppose is actually a bonus.

"Alright alright… how much longer?"

"Not long, you'll be up on the stage in less than half an hour." _Half an hour?!_

The elevator ride is tedious; Titritus keeps looking over me carefully, as if making sure the outfit isn't going to fall apart. It's nothing spectacular, yet he says Miranda and he thought it all out. It's a plain brown suit where the trousers flow down and over the sturdy brown boots, of those at least, I'm content, it reminds me so much of what we wear in the training centre at home that its natural, though I still don't understand why they picked brown. As well as this, a thick belt is tight around my hips, yet it matches my suit perfectly.

The golden shirt makes more sense, though he's made sure it's unbuttoned so low half the capitol will be able to see my chest, so I'll only have girls, worse, capitolite girls and women, screaming at me. _Great…_ It stands out brightly and glitters in the light when I move, reflecting it back, I feel like a light bulb, yet it reminds me of winning, and no doubt that's what the crowd will think to, because that's what I am, what we are, victors.

When we step out the elevator I'm taken to a poorly lit area under the stage and both Titritus and my prep team disperse to go get ready themselves. It's customary for the victor and his or he support team to rise up on a metal plate from beneath the stage. First the prep team, Clove's _favourite_ people I'm sure, then the escort, the stylist, mentor, and then the victor, me. Yet of course with two victors, they've had to rethink that.

A makeshift wall stands about 10 metres away, no doubt hiding Clove, if she's even there yet. I resume to tugging my shirt sleeve again in an agitated manner, I want nothing more to see her, haven't I waited long enough by now? It's torture.

The noise from the crowd above is loud and only annoys me further, I barely feel the presence behind me, and when I turn I see Brutus stood behind me smirking.

"You've gotten better at hearing people, that's for sure."

"Well, I am a victor." I smirk at him, before he wraps me into a tight bear hug. He mutters harshly and quickly in my ear and what he says discomforts me, before he lets me go.

"You'll see her soon alright?"

"I know, why the hell did they pick brown though?" He laughs lightly and rolls his eyes, jabbing me once in the elbow painfully.

"You really are an idiot Cato, it co-ordinates with Clove, exactly, it's like your two parts of a whole, yes I've already seen her, I went in with Enobaria, unlike usual, the girl beat the boy this time."

"But girls take forever to get ready." What? It's a fact.

"You forget that this is Clove, she seemed so agitated it wouldn't surprise me if she ran to the elevator just to see you," _or to get as far away as possible from her stylist_.

"Right, time to take our places, you alright?"

"Yeah, thanks Brutus." He nods at me, and leads me partway to the metal plate readily made for me.

"Break a leg."

"Only if it's the leg of a capitolite." He laughs and waves at me, before walking off to take his own place, no doubt next to Enobaria, whilst I wait anxiously on mine. _Almost Clove, almost, and once this is done, we can go home._

* * *

Clove's POV

The horrid smell from beneath the stage threatens to choke me and a cold sweat breaks out from my skin but I brush it away. For the first time in however long, maybe even years, I'm scared. I have no idea what will happen when I get up there, and my legs feel so weak I have this horrid feeling that as soon as I get up there, I'll collapse straight away, and I don't even know if Cato will catch me, how different will he look? Will he be okay? Will he have changed? He can't have… can he?

The anthem almost deafens me and I have to cover my ears in shock, for one small moment I fear that it's a cannon, that this is a dream and that Cato just died and I'm a victor, all by myself. Yet then I hear Caesar Flickerman's voice and I calm down, yet the fear still haunts me.

He starts greeting the audience and applause and laughs echo throughout the area. He talks for a few moments, before he announces those who "worked so hard to help us look our best" as he says, and the crowd erupt in applause as both mine and Cato's prep team must walk on stage and take their bows, Bubble and Ginger no doubt giggling happily whilst Meira stands between them with her cool, curt smile.

Our escorts introduced next, it's almost sad that I still don't know their name, but it doesn't matter, not really. I know she'll be taking her bows, happy (and as clueless) as ever, with thoughts of only herself and how excellent she'll be at this moment, the 'talk of the city' or something stupid like that which she always says.

The crowd erupts in applause once more, and I know that the stylists, Miranda and Titritus, must have both just walked on. Caesar appraises them for a moment, thanking them for all their hard work on making us look so perfect and how it's more than any of them could ever have asked. The whoops and the cheers from the crowd obviously indicate their approval.

"It was just a pleasure to work with them! I'm so, so glad they won!" I roll my eyes at my stylist's voice before I hear Enobaria and Brutus's announcement, and the usual accompaniment of cheers. Everyone knows Enobaria due to how she killed the final tribute with just her teeth, and Brutus is also quite well known, the cheers that greet them are almost as loud as those that met the stylists, but not quite.

And now it's my turn. My arms and legs shake nervously as I clench and unclench my hands to try and calm myself down, but it doesn't work.

Then the new metal plate beneath me slowly starts to rise. They had to install a second one because of how there are two victors, and the smell of wet paint still lingers in the air, yet it's the growing noise that frightens me, and the thought of Cato that excites me.

3…

2…

* * *

Cato's POV

1…

The crowd erupt in cheers as we emerge on stage, and I instantly turn, my eyes raking the area for Clove, and there she is. The sight of her takes my breath away entirely.

Her dress, her hair, her face, everything about her renders me speechless and I find myself unable to move. Yet then her eyes and find mine and light up with a happiness I know only could bring to them, and the sight of them pulls me back to reality.

She's sprinted the short distance and leapt towards me in an instant, and before I know it she's in my arms, her legs around my waist, and her tender lips on mine, exactly where they belong.

When Caesar comes towards us to try to nudge us apart I simply turn us determinedly away, driving the crowd even wilder (if that is at all possible), and he's forced to give up. It takes another 10 minutes before Brutus finally pulls us apart and pushes onto the sofa, there's usually a singular throne, though I doubt that'd fit two people.

As soon as we're on the sofa, I shrug off my jacket and she's back in my arms again, snuggled carefully in my lap, smiling that same lovely smile, her golden pumps lying forgotten on the floor, her small gentle head resting against my chest. For a moment it's as though we're back in the arena, leant against that tree before we face our final foe, but it's not, because this time there's no risk of death, this time we can go home.

It has to last 3 hours, for 3 hours we'll be sat there watching as all the other tributes die before our eyes.

It goes in a blur, before I know it I'm watching the parade, barely even glimpsing the other tributes, only the two on fire gain more than there few seconds share and then it's just Clove and me. The interviews they don't even bother to show all the tributes, it's just me Clove and lover boy, though considering what he said, I'm not surprised.

The bloodbath seems even more gory than it was whilst I was doing it. Clove tenses annoyedly as they show her dagger miss Katniss' head and hit the rucksack instead. _Lucky bitch_.

Nothing else stands out; the first few days are gone in moments before they're showing Clove and me when we're on our own. There's a sweet clip of 12 singing to the little girl from 11, its odd, but the audience seem saddened whilst she dies. It's rather pathetic really; especially when one of them cries so loud that she has to leave the area, it wasn't _that_ sad.

When the feast arrives, it's my turn to tense, at the sight of Thresh running towards Clove, ready to attack, my jaw stiffens annoyedly and Clove gives my hand a comforting squeeze, sure enough I scream her name in a few moments and she's turned and thresh has seen me, and she's safe.

The only other scene that truly catches my attention is our final battle with Thresh. Clove and I both look determinedly at the screen, determined not to miss a thing, and I know we're thinking the same thing 'when did he hurt Clove?'

Thresh's sword slashes across her chest whilst he holds her suspended in the air, and then my voice is heard yet again and she goes flying from him, a sickening crack as her face is most likely broken.

Clove smiles softly when my hand goes down to her stomach and chest protectively, hates the sight of the wound, and then I have to relive it as they show my reaction when we realise how injured she is, the horror and shock on both of our faces, I can't stop thinking about it. We're frozen on the ladder; they didn't end with our victory, instead they end with my desperate struggle to try to reach her, grab her, stop anyone else from hurting her, and then it's over.

It feels like a dream as we're taken back to district 2's apartment. It feels slightly odd to see her with her hair down, though I like it, though as soon as the elevator doors close she's grabbed some kind of ribbon from the table, the first thing she could find, and she's tied it all up again, save for the two strands framing her face. _Typical Clove_.

Enobaria grabs Clove and whisks her away from me, we both open our mouths to protest yet only get "you need to be at an interview at 2 you need sleep. Bed, now, both of you, _separately", _she scowls at me, and with a longing look I watch Clove go.

Half an hour later we're both clutching each other beneath Clove's sheets. One more interview, one more obstacle, and then we can go home.

* * *

"Give it up for our newest victors, Cato Evans, and Clove Treylie!" Caesar stands with us and bows at the camera, the interview went so quickly I can barely remember any of it. Before I know it, we're being whisked through the capitol towards the station and as soon as we're out the limo cheers, shouts, screams, and camera flashes surround us. We smile at some, yet answer no questions, and go as quick as we can to the train, before collapsing on the sofa inside, out of breath, and tired.

For five minutes, we sit, in absolute silence, before our eyes finally meet, and we burst into laughter.

We've done it, we've won. For so many days and weeks we were stuck in that arena, to think that if someone had told me just 2 months ago, that I'd be going into the arena with my best friend, and come out not only with her, but with her as my girlfriend, I'd have thought them mad.

We lie on the floor beside each other laughing and laughing, the room empty of all but us, and the train slowly heading home. Home. For a whole 6 months we can stay there, a house each, not that we'll use two, before our victory tour, but we don't need to worry about that yet, we're going _home_.

"We did it Clove. We did it."

"I know, we won Cato, and not only won, but won _together_ the first ever joint winners!" She sits up giggling happily and I just look up at her and smile. "They'll never forget us, never! And now we're victors, they can never hurt us again."

"I know Clove, they'll always remember us." She smiles and laughs at me, twisting herself so she can lean against me again, her soft lips curved into a gleeful smile, yet as happy as I am, I still can't get Brutus' words out of my head, I just hope that we'll be fine because we've done it, surely she's right, surely no-one can hurt us now. We've won, the first double victors, a victory to remember.

* * *

**That's it guys! End of ****_A Victory to Remember_****. I'll put up a sequel in a few months, but before that I'm doing a Galeniss that will be put up when I have time, hopefully in a few weeks, thank you so much to all who reviewed and read, and I hope you read any future stories that I upload.**

**Thanks guys!**

**-Tara**


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